Snippets
by ChildDevil04
Summary: A collection of one shots from the Meeting Fate and Learning the Truth storylines. Lots of TK. Some other couples as well.
1. An Ethically Debatable Mission Part 1

Authorial Explanation: This is a collection of shorts, of scenes that correspond to my corner of the PR universe as seen in Learning the Truth and Meeting Fate but don't fit into either of those two stories for one reason or another. I have no definite ideas for this story, as such it could be months between updates or days. I have a few scenes in mind that I'd like to write but if you want something feel free to request it and I'll do my best to accommodate. I recommend reading Learning the Truth and Meeting Fate as I won't be doing a lot of explanation of surrounding events in these stories.

I already plan to do the following scenes: The mission that Tommy and Andros go on in 8 & 9 of MF (This chapter); Kim's reaction to said mission; Kim and Amanda's day out from 9 of MF; Tommy and Kim's first date in 10 years; first dates for the twins (this may be two chapters or maybe only one).

Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers, that pleasure belongs to Disney, lucky Disney. I asked for them for Christmas but all I got was an action figure. Not complaining though, Black Dino Thunder . . . I love me my Tommy. But that's as close as I come to owning the Power Rangers. So don't sue, I don't have any money.

A.N: This chapter has an evil cliffhanger but its not my fault. I lost the notes for the second half of the chapter and while I found them again last night, well I'd already typed this up and decided to just go ahead and post the chapter in 2 parts. So evil cliff hanger it is. I'll put part 2 up at some point, like when I get enough free time for working on my senior thesis to type something else.

Snippets: An Ethically Debatable Mission

Two days after my confrontation with Kim I was sitting in my classroom during my free period going over lesson plans when my cell phone buzzed. This is not an unusual experience as people are forever forgetting that I do actually have a real job. I glanced at the display fully intending to ignore whoever it was and froze. Of all the names I'd been expecting to see on that screen the one that was there was not one of them. The person the caller id claimed was calling me never calls me, except of course for that little fact that he was currently calling me. Resigned and knowing that it was very likely I wasn't going to like what I was about to hear I hit the accept button and brought the phone to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Tommy? It's Andros."

I shut my eyes and cursed silently in my head even as I responded, after all the last time he called me I ended up on the moon. "What's up?"

"Nothing good."

The cursing in my head got even louder. "What do you need?"

"You."

"Me?" Not that I was surprised or anything. It was the only reason he'd call me after all. "What can I do for you?"

"Do you still have your Dino gift?"

"Yes" I drew the word out cautiously. "Why?"

"Can't tell you that over the phone, much to risky. Let your boss know that the fate of the world rests on you taking an indefinite leave of absence and then meet me at the Shallow Cove Air Force Base. They're expecting you and they'll let you in. Bring some Power with you." And then he was gone before I could even argue the preemptory summons. No doubt his way of making sure I actually showed up.

Kind of stunned I stared at the phone that was currently emitting the really irritating dial tone noise. I'd coordinated with Andros on several missions and he'd never been quite that brusque before. Slightly shaken because whatever it was that made him sound that way had to be bad I gathered up my things. Quickly I made my way over to Principal Randall's office. One advantage to having a boss in on your secret identity is it makes it very easy to get a leave of absence. 10 minutes later I was speeding away in my jeep, my absence arranged and a substitute ready in the form of Anton Mercer.

After an hour drive I pulled to a stop in front of the gates of the Shallow Cove Air Force Base. The young private who approached eyed my dusty, dirty jeep and me with a bit of suspicion but he was polite enough as he asked for my id. I handed him my driver's license and waited patiently while he returned to the guard shack to verify that I was expected. He was back relatively quickly and I was mildly disappointed. I'd been looking forward to a delay, anything to putt off whatever terrible news Andros had. Thanking him for the return of my license I pulled through the gates and carefully navigated my way around to the massive hanger bay that I assumed was housing the AstroMegaship.

I'd no sooner turned the engine off then Andros had appeared next to the car. Careful to hide my start of surprise I grabbed the stuff I'd stopped at my house to get and go out of the car, making sure to lock it as I did so.

"Did you bring your Zeonizers?" He asked me in a low voice even though we were the only 2 people in sight.

"Yes. But why do I need them? And why do you need me? I came, now you need to give me some answers. I can't exactly go tearing off at the drop of a hat anymore."

He looked intrigued by my last sentence but refused to ask. "We'll discuss that later. For now let's board the ship, I'll brief you on the way."

"What I don't get a chance to decide if I want to go on this little voyage?"

"Nope. You're our only hope, the only one that can do what needs to be done. And since it has to be you, well you have to come."

I grinned ruefully. "You sure know which strings to pull. Let's get this show on the road then, I have to get back ASAP."

Within minutes Andros and I were settled in the briefing room I'd seen before during the Forever Red mission while Zhane took care of getting us into space and on our way to where ever the hell it was we were headed. I toyed with my broken Dino Gem bracelet while Andros got both of us some coffee. With luck mine would be laced with whiskey, but I wasn't getting the vibe that this was my lucky day. With the day I was having it was more likely to be decaf. Decaf coffee shouldn't exist. If you can't handle the caffeine don't drink coffee. Simple enough really.

Soon enough Andros was back and fortunately for all involved my coffee was not decaf, though it was also unlaced with whiskey. Oh well, you can't have everything you want out of life. Andros settled into his own seat and toyed with his mug apparently trying to decide where to start.

"You got the power of invisibility with that gem, right?" He asked finally.

"Yes."  
"Does it still work?"

"The gem or my ability to go invisible?"

"Both, either?"

"I can go invisible still. But I can't morph with the Dino Gem."

"But you can still use your Zeonizers, right?"

"I assume so. I haven't tried since our last mission."

"Can you use the power of invisibility while morphed as the red Zeo ranger?"

"I haven't the faintest idea."

"Can you try?"

"Why?"

"It's for the mission."

I glared by Andros is the epitome of a stubborn red ranger so finally I gave in. "I guess I can try." I pulled my Zeonizers out of the pocket of my cargo pants and slipped them onto my wrists. I had to remove the band with my Dino Gem on it to do so, the first time I'd taken it off since I put it on, and it was with a definite pang that I slipped it into the pocket I'd removed the Zenoizers from.

Standing I took a spot in the cleared area of the room and then had to stop and think about how to do the Zeo morph. Strangely enough I remembered the Turbo morph better and I'd used that set of powers for a much shorter period of time. Finally I thought I remembered it and hoping desperately I was right I moved my arms through the motions I thought I remembered while calling "Zeo Ranger V Red!" Apparently I'd remembered it correctly because this was followed by the familiar sensation of being covered in spandex and the snick of a helmet closing. Looking down it was a bit odd to see a red suit. After a year of black I'd gotten used to it and it was weird to see red again. And it made me wish for my Tigerzord powers. I missed being the White Ranger the most.

Andros had no sensitivity for the moment and broke into my thoughts rather quickly. "So you can morph. Can you use the power of invisibility and hold the morph at the same tiem?"

Gritting my teeth I resisted the urge to deck him for being annoying and closed-mouthed and rather focused on going invisible. Of course it was all normal to me so I didn't realized I'd managed the feat until Andros sucked in his breath. "Am I invisible?" I asked, just to be sure.

"Yep. You are very gone. Are you still morphed?"

I looked down at myself, not that it was really necessary since I was still seeing the world through a star. "Yep."  
"Good." He sounded relieved and I realized I was out of patience.

"Power Down." I said, releasing the invisibility at the same time. Andros was a bit startled by my sudden reappearance but I didn't give him time to recover. "What the hell is going on Andros? I'm in but I need to know what I'm in for."

He sighed and dropped into a chair. "Do you remember me telling you about the legend I found of a set of jewels of great power. Jewels I was sure would be able to serve as a power source for tapping into the Morphin' Grid?"

"Yeah, the World Powers, right?"

"Those are the ones. Anyway, I found a lead on them. I traced this through a winding trail of crooks and fences until it ended.And I was able to ascertain that they will let us access the Morphin' Grid, these are more then viable powers for Ranger powers, they're actually already connected to the Grid; they were formed that way. We need to get them. But there's a bit of a problem. See I found them, but somebody else already has them.

"So buy them off the guy."

"Tried. He won't give them up. He doesn't know what he has, and I'm not telling him." He added, correctly interpreting the look on my face. "Rando Nex is the biggest crime leader in his part of space. I'm not telling him he has the ability to make Power Rangers at his disposal."

"No, of course not." I paused. "So what are we doing since we can't buy them back?"

"You're going to steal them."


	2. An Ethically Debatable Mission Part 2

A.N: So I really did intend to have this up on like Monday, but obviously that didn't happen because my thesis tried to take on it's own life. But I think I stopped the spontaneous generation so thats good. And I spent all weekend at the bookstore looking up quotes for it in this 700 page book full of baseball quotes. That was fun. But not conducive to typing. So last night instead of doing my homework I did this. Enjoy.

Last Time:

_"You're going to steal them."_

And Now:

I gaped at Andros. "Steal? You want me to use my power to do something that's against the laws of every civilized society? No can do. We aren't supposed to use our powers for personal gain, breaking the law seems very much like a personal gain to me."

"Two things. First off, it's not for personal gain, it's for the protection of the world. You'd be removing them from evil hands and ensuring that a viable power source is available for the next group that needs it to battle evil. Secondly, this isn't really a civilized society we're going into. We'd call Nex a crime boss but in his area of space he is the law, there is no organized policing force."

I was quiet for a long moment while I looked for holes in his argument, but eventually I gave up. "I know there are issues with that logic but I'll be damned if I know what they are. So, what's the plan?"

"I'm gonna drop you off. You'll go in, invisible and morphed. It's very important that you be morphed. That way should your invisibility fail they won't see you and also I'll be able to communicate with you by tuning into the frequency of the communicator in your helmet. You find the gems and then I'll get you out using the short range teleportation system."

"Why can't you use the teleportation system to get the gems out?"

"We can't lock onto their signal. We need a very strong signal to lock onto. That's another reason for you to be morphed. There are few energy signals in the galaxy stronger then that created by the Morphin' Grid when someone is morphed. We lock onto that signal and when we 'port you out you'll bring the gems with you."

"Uh huh." I was quiet while I thought through the plan. "What about locks, security systems etc. I'm no good at picking locks or bypassing security. And I refuse to kill anyone."

"I've got solutions for that." He pulled out what looked like a handheld scanner and something else that looked a bit like a gate card. "This," he held up the scanner, "will bypass security systems for you. I'll show you how to use it before we get there. And this," he indicated the card, "can change to be any type of key you need. It's a burglar's best friend, not that they can get a hold of them. They are military issue only on KO-35 and even then your security clearance has to be through the roof to get one. Technically I'm not giving you this. Technically you've never seen them." He handed them to me. "And you're going to guard them with your life."

I slipped both into my pocket and nodded. "Got it. What about the guards?"

"That's where the invisibility comes in."

"And when they see a locked door open by itself and come to investigate?"

"I'll give you a low range stunner that will knock them out. That way they don't bother you and they're not dead. Though it wouldn't be such a pity if they were dead really. We are talking about scum of the universe here." I glared and he sighed. "I promise it won't kill them."

"Good. Anything else I need to know?"

"Nope. I think we're good. We'll be arriving in about 6 hours. Here's the plan for getting you into the compound . . ."

That was how I found myself pushing my way through the thick folds of a massive piece of carpeting and then knocking out one end of the box it was held in. Holding my breath I carefully and silently eased the end back into place while I listened frantically to discover if anyone had heard my less then silent exit from the box. While I was still completely immersed in shadows I scanned the room and noted the location and range of the two security cameras. Timing it carefully I morphed when the flash of red would be least likely to be caught. I would have come in morphed but as I'd learned while stuck in morph it begins to drain you after a while and I wasn't sure how long I would need the protection. I touched the throat mic we'd inserted into the helmet to make sure it was secure and then whispered into it.

"Andros?"

"Go ahead. I've got you."

"I'm in the main holding area. Security is really lax here. You're sure these blueprints are right?"

"Yep. And I'm fairly certain the gems are in the safe in the master bedroom."

"Great. Here goes nothing. I'm out." Ending our conversation I sighed and then focused on going invisible. Why does it have to be me? Why do I have to be the only one with the skills to be a burglar?

3 hours later I'd located the master bedroom safe and was crouched in front of it punching keys on the scanner. Thanks to a conversation I'd overheard on my way I knew that Nex was off planet on business so I wasn't to worried about being disturbed. Nevertheless I wanted this job over and done with. With a relieved grin I opened the safe using the code flashing on the screen of the scanner but the sigh of relief caught in my throat. The safe was almost completely empty.

With a muffled curse I quickly searched what was present but none of it was jewels of any sort. There were two guns, a pile of discs and several papers. That was it. I felt the edges of the safe carefully, looking for a hidden panel but found nothing. Carefully I replaced everything to the position it had occupied and then carefully closed and locked the safe. Restraining the urge to yell in frustration I contacted Andros.

"Tell me there's somewhere else he would have put the jewels." I whispered, making sure I was far from the door but facing it so I could see if anyone tried to come in. "They weren't in the safe. There wasn't anything of any importance in that safe."

"Shit."

"What?"

"Are you sure they weren't there?"

"Yes." I hissed. "I checked the whole damn thing. There were no gems in it. Where else do I look?"

"You could try the safe in his office, though my source tells me he only puts business items there. The only other place is the Vault and I don't think you'll be able to get into that."

"Great." I muttered. "Here's to hoping they're in his office. And try finding out where he went. Maybe he took them with him for some reason."

"He's no on the premises?" Andros asked sharply.

"Nope. I overheard a few of the servants discussing their gratitude that he won't be back for a couple of days."

"Got it. I'll start looking at that, you check his office safe."

"Sure. I'll let you know what I find." I ended our quiet conversation and carefully slipped out of the room. Just my luck. Now I had to get into yet another heavily guarded room. You'd think this man was the president or something. Even though he was off planet there were security guys absolutely freakin' everywhere.

Getting into the office proved to be easier then getting into the bedroom had been. I hooked the scanner up and let it work while my gaze roved the room looking for other hidey-holes. There were a couple of glass cases on the far end of the room that looked reasonably promising but first I had a safe to get into. A few moments later I had it open. A quick visual examination of it revealed nothing more then a pile of folders and a box that contained a white powder that looked suspiciously like cocaine. I again checked for hidden compartments and felt the folders to verify that there wasn't anything hidden in them. Annoyed that this safe was as free of gems as the other I replaced everything and locked it again.

A moment after I'd finished with the safe the door opened. Glad I was hidden by the desk I was crouched behind I quickly resummoned my invisibility, which I'd dropped in interests of conserving energy since I was in an unobserved area, and then edged towards a corner. I watched as a short boxy man opened the safe and dropped the two folders he was holding carelessly onto the stack inside. I listened with some small degree of fascination as he muttered to himself while he relocked the safe. "Do this, do that, move the gems here, move them there. I've got some doxy coming in so move them again. Gah. Even when he's gone I'm overworked." Without looking around he left the room.

I remained in the corner barely daring to breathe, working hard to get myself under control. The gems were still on the premises, possibly, but it seemed equally possible that if I didn't get my hands on them soon they'd walk out on some "doxy." I pulled out a device that looked a lot like a tricorder from Star Trek, and hadn't that gotten me a weird look from Andros when I mentioned it, and entered the sequence that would search for the energy of the gems.

I hadn't tried this before because it wouldn't see through the metal of a safe and we were assuming that's were they were, but now it seemed that maybe we were wrong. With luck they'd be left somewhere in preparation of the "doxy's" visit, and preferably somewhere without live guards and I'd be able to grab them and make a break for it. Yeah, right, like my life would ever be that easy. A slight vibration of the box in my hands told me it had found something that matching the signal I was looking for. Carefully navigating the maze of guards, security devices, walls and other such things I finally found the source.

They sat arrayed in glorious splendor on a table in a room marked as Private Parlor on the blueprints Andros had gotten. Still invisible I watched from the open doorway as the secretary I'd seen before finished giving the guard his orders. I groaned internally as I did a quick visual scan of the room. Other then the live guard being placed there were also several cameras and what looked like several booby traps. That's probably half of what was taking so long to brief this guy, they had to tell him what to avoid.  
I slipped inside the room and very carefully made my way to a corner. There I settled down to study and plan. I was so close to my goal but it was going to take cunning, stealth, and luck to get out of this mess alive. And preferably uninjured. The last thing I needed to add to a mulitday absence was an injury. Hayley would murder me, though she was likely to do that anyway for making her worry at all. I shook my head lightly. This was not the time to think about Hayley, or Kim, or the twins, or anyone or anything but getting those gems and getting out of here. And murdering Andros I amended as my right leg started to cramp.

Several hours later I got my opportunity to move. The guard has just left muttering something about needing to "piss like a racehorse" and I figured I had at least 2 minutes to get the gems and get out. Impossible given what I had to get around but never tell me something is impossible, that just makes me more determined to do it. Quickly I jammed the security cameras and proceeded to make my way carefully across the room. Twice I had to flip and roll past some of the traps that were apparently designed to go off if the camera feed failed but I made it to the table without a single scratch.

Allowing myself only a quick grin of triumph I quickly stuffed the gems into a leather pouch that was lying nearby. I looked around for a way out and discovered the doors had been securely closed and locked. A quick thinking security guard must have done that as soon as he realized that the feed was gone. Quickly I tapped the throat mic.

"Andros." I whispered urgently.

"Yeah?" His reply was instantaneous, apparently he'd been waiting for me to contact him.

"Get me out of here. I've got the gems but the room is locked . . ." I broke off and gasped a bit as another trap discharged and a spear cut across my thigh.

"Tommy? What happened? You still there buddy?" I could hear the panic in his voice but it took me a moment to respond.

"I'll be fine," I replied in a voice tight with pain. "Just get me the hell out of here before one of these spears hits me in a more painful or fatal fashion." Seconds after I'd finished speaking I felt myself pulling through space in a way I'd done in years. I'd always enjoyed this mode of travel, it was fast, painless, and kind of fun, but this time the pain in my leg made it impossible for me to really enjoy it. Thankfully in a very short period of time I found myself in the Cargo Bay of the Megaship.

Zhane met me and was properly appreciative of the deep gash currently bleeding all over me and the floor. He moved to help me but I shoved the bag at him instead.

"Take care of these first. I'll be fine for another few minutes. But if you don't get those taken care of and they get stolen or something I'll be pissed." Obviously my mental faculties were beginning to be impaired if I seriously thought something could get stolen off this ship but whatever. Zhane laughed a bit, apparently he thought it was as ridiculous as I'd realized it was, but he did as I said and disappeared with the bag in hand. As soon as he was gone I let my face contort in pain. I looked down, a bit bemused to see my uniform actually had a rip in it, not something you frequently see in a Ranger uniform, those things are like indestructible. Except apparently when a razor sharp spear is propelled across the room using you for target practice. I swayed a bit, the loss of blood beginning to affect me, and started to carefully make my way to the infirmary. I didn't make it very far before I had to stop and lean on the wall in a desperate attempt to stay upright. That was were Zhane found me several minutes later.

"Idiot" he said forcefully when he saw my ashen complexion. "I shouldn't have listened to you." He slipped an arm around me and supported most of my weight as we went down what seemed like endless miles of hallways. As we went through the door of the infirmary I could feel myself losing my grip on consciousness.

"Tell Kim and the girls I love them" I slurred right before blacking out.

Switch to 3rd Person Point Of View

Zhane cursed as he lowered Tommy's still form to one of the beds. He had absolutely no intention of letting Tommy die of a little thing like blood loss though it seemed that Tommy himself was fairly certain it was going to kill him. But if Tommy believed Zhane was going to just let him die without a fight he had another thing coming.

Within minutes Zhane had the wound cleaned and stitched but it was the blood loss that had him worried. They didn't have any human blood on board and neither he nor Andros could donate because their blood wasn't compatible with human blood. Because they were Kaoian, not human, they couldn't donate their blood. It would likely kill him, or at the very least make him very sick and it sure as hell wouldn't help.

Andros stepped into the room just then and paled a bit when he caught sight of Tommy's motionless form. "Is he going to be okay?"

"I hope so. He's lost a lot of blood and we have no way to replace it. I just hope it wasn't too much. And I hope he beats the odd on infection, they're currently in his favor. I just hope they stay that way."

Unfortunately for Zhane Tommy had used up most of his luck retrieving the gems. He beat off the blood loss and for the first 12 hours it seemed he was going to make a full recovery. But just as Zhane's hopes were being raised, infection set in. For two days they battled a raging fever, hallucinations, and powers gone wild.

Zhane was sure he'd never forget the time he came back from fetching a bowl of broth to find Tommy "gone." Except he wasn't really gone, he'd just made himself invisible and it took Zhane a good 20 minutes to figure it out. He didn't until Tommy reappeared, still unconscious, in the exact position he'd been in when Zhane had left to fetch the broth.

Early on the third day the fever broke though Tommy was still dead to the world. Other then that however Zhane was thrilled. The fever had broken, the wound was clean of infection and quickly knitting together, healing with legendary Ranger speed, and his scans indicated that Tommy would be coming out of the self-induced coma-like sleep at some point soon. Zhane was hoping that soon meant very soon. It was going to be another few days before Tommy could go home once he did actually wake up so the sooner he woke up the sooner he could go home and the sooner Zhane could breathe properly. As it was he kept imagining Kim getting some idea of where Tommy was and storming in and kicking his ass in a pissed Pink fit.

Andros did not share Zhane's optimism. In fact he was positive the longer Tommy was unconscious the more addled he'd be or the more likely it was he'd never wake up. Zhane tried to tell him he'd been watching too much TV but Andros wouldn't listen. By noon of the third day, about 2 hours after they achieved orbit above Earth, having taken a circuitous route to make sure they weren't followed, he'd fetched Dana up from the surface. And then he got annoyed when she seconded what Zhane had said.

Shortly after dinner that night Tommy finally opened his eyes. He was kind of dazed, rather tired, and stunned to be alive. He stayed awake long enough to have some soup, water and juice and then slipped back into sleep. Andros was rather concerned and Zhane eventually had to ban him from the infirmary after pointing out why it was that Tommy was so exhausted: he'd been tired when Andros called; had barely slept on the trip to Nex's planet; hadn't slept from the time he'd been put in the box until he'd passed out; had been in morph for over 12 hours; had been invisible for a large chunk of those 12 hours; had been running on adrenaline; had been grievously injured and was now healing at Ranger speed. The wonder was that he'd woken up as soon as he had.

Two days later Tommy had recovered enough to go home. He was still exhausted but the only thing that was going to help that was sleep. The wound on his thigh was mostly healed, the stitches had been removed and such but they, Tommy and Zhane, were pretty sure it was going to scar. That was unusual when Ranger healing was involved but not too odd considering the severity of it. Tommy met with Andros on the bridge before being teleported to the surface.

"So you're finally out of bed." Andros said, looking at Tommy with a concern that belied his words.

"Yep. Finally dragged my lazy self up here." Tommy agreed, leaning heavily on a console. "You ready to send me home? And you're gonna have Zhane drive my car to my house?"

"Yes to both. But first." He pulled a familiar pouch out of his pocket, the pouch that held the gems Tommy had retrieved. "I need you to watch these for me Tommy." Andros said, handing him the pouch.

"No way." Tommy said raising his hands before they touched it. "I came along to help you on your little retrieval mission which is gonna get me in enough trouble. I'm not going to watch these. Kim will murder me for brining Ranger stuff near the girls."

"Come on. I need you to do it, no one else can."

And of course Andros knew appealing to Tommy's pride would get him to agree. That was how he got Tommy to go on the mission in the first place after all.

"Fine." Tommy snatched it from him, careful to keep his hands near the top and far from the gems it contained. "How long?"

"I dunno. When I get things ready, squared away, talk to some people." He was vague but Tommy was tired and ready to crawl back into bed so he missed both the vagueness and the strange light to Andros' eye.

"Fine, whatever. Just get me home." The next thing he knew he was standing in his living room. "Thank God."

Taking a brief moment to secrete the gems in a temporary though highly secure hiding place Tommy headed upstairs to his room to crash.

END

Next up: How does Kim react when she finds out what Tommy's just done?


	3. Kim's Reaction

A.N: So very sorry about the delay. I had written this and then decided it wasn't quite realistic enough so I rewrote it, from the beginning. Scrapped the whole 10 pages. This one ended up being like 13 handwritten. Not bad. Umm I'm thinking I might put the other one up as well anyway because I did like it but I haven't decided on that yet. I've got another Snippet done and I'm working on 2 others so hopefully the next delay won't be as long but who knows. I've got less then a month till my thesis is due, scary thought, and that's taking a lot of my time. Anyway enjoy this and I hope to be posting again soon.

About four days after Tommy returned from his mission he'd resumed all of his usual activities, including his daily run. He'd so far managed to avoid explaining where it was he had gone, on his date the night before with Kimberly they'd discussed much more pleasant things, but he had the feeling his luck was running out.

Today he decided to run to Jason and Kim's dojo/gymnastics center. He knew the girls were going to be there after school and he hadn't gotten much of a chance to see them since he'd gotten back. And he wanted to check out one of Jason's classes. He'd been asked to consider the possibility of helping teach at some point but he wanted to watch the school in action before he agreed. Though it wouldn't be fair to make his decision just yet considering the center had only opened two weeks before.

So after the requisite half hour, he had to stay once classes let out so he'd be available for student questions, he changed into his running clothes and, after putting his briefcase and clothes into his jeep and making sure his keys were in the pocket of his shorts and not inside the jeep, he set off for downtown Reefside. As he ran he considered how he would present his story, assuming they asked him. Of course the first thing he would insist on would be that Amanda and Taylor not be around. They did not have to hear this story.

When he got to the center he found Jason teaching a class, Kim filing paperwork and the girls nowhere in sight. He stretched out again and then leaned against Kim's office door. He just watched her in silence for a minute, taking the time to just appreciate what he'd never expected to have in his life again. While he just stood there watching her she turned to get something and gasped. As soon as she recognized him, however, warmth lit her eyes.

"Hey," she said, crossing over to him. She went to give him a hug and realized he was all sweaty. Instead she leaned up and gave him a kiss, careful to keep away from him. When he gave her a wounded look she shrugged. "Your all sweaty. I just took a shower after my last class."

"Fair enough. Can I come in?"

"You could, but I'm about to go out and straighten up the equipment we were using today."

"Okay. I'll ummm . . . lay on the mats and watch you." He grinned at her. "I might get the equipment all sweaty and I'm sure you already cleaned it."

She swatted him. "No, I didn't but you can't help anyway. You don't know where it goes. And it has to go where it belongs, otherwise somebody will grab the wrong one tomorrow and then all hell would break loose."

Tommy looked at her skeptically but followed her to the workout room and stayed out of the way as she started tidying up. "So where are the girls?" He asked while trying to find somewhere to lean that wasn't covered in mirrors.

"Kira took them to the craft store. They have some sort of project that requires building things and since Jase and I are both absolutely helpless on that front she offered to help out."

"Oh." Tommy deflated a bit at hearing it wasn't likely he would get to see the girls today but suddenly perked back up. "So that means you're all alone?"

"Except Jason who's upstairs with a bunch of kids, yeah."

"What do you say to a match?"

She blinked at him. "What?"

He grinned. "Out of practice? I asked if you wanna spar. I feel up for a match at the minute."

"No. Crazy person. I told you I just took a shower. Why don't you go see if Jason is up for putting on a demonstration for his kiddies."

"Cause I wanna spar with you, not Jason."

"Tomorrow. I won't shower after my last class. We can spar then." She finished what she was doing and came over to settle near him on the floor. He dropped onto the floor in front of her cross-legged, which pulled the hem of his shorts far enough up his thigh to expose the scar he'd gotten on his mission. She stared at it a minute and then reached out to trace it gently. There was no escaping the fact that it was a very new scar, it was still very pink and still had the slightly puckered appearance that comes when two pieces of flesh knit back together. There was additionally no escape from the obvious fact that it had been a very deep, nasty wound. She looked at him with horror in her eyes. "Where did you get this Tommy? What happened?"

He looked away, unable to see the horror in her eyes even if it was for him and not at him. He opened his mouth to answer but closed it again without saying a word. Every thing he'd planned to say on his run over was wiped from his mind by the feel of her hand on his thigh. He swallowed hard and, without taking his eyes off their reflections, specifically off the link between them in the form of her hand on his leg, he gave her part of the answer she was looking for. "I got hit with a spear." He promptly hissed in pain as she dug her fingers into his leg in surprise.

"A spear? How in the hell did you get hit with a spear?" Her astonishment was evident in her voice.

Tommy was about to answer but at that moment they both heard the clattering that heralded Jason's class coming down from the second level. "Not here," he said instead. "Can we go to your office?"

Kim nodded, not sure she could trust her voice further, and rose to lead the way. Tommy followed, his stomach twisting in knots at the cold, impassive front she was putting forth at the moment. He'd known it wouldn't be easy to tell her but he wasn't expecting this coldness. Though he hadn't actually told her what happened yet. She still had time to explode like the volcano her Pterodactyl Zord had called home.

They settled into her office, Tommy making sure the door was firmly shut before dropping into one corner of the sofa. Kim curled up in the armchair at the furthest corner from the one in which Tommy sat. This action made the knots in Tommy's stomach tighten and his heart clench. It was obvious she was withholding judgment on him, and, he couldn't help but think, on them, until she'd heard his story.

'I am absolutely going to kill Andros if this breaks us up.' Tommy thought, gazing at Kim's slightly pale face. He'd survived once when she left him, barely, but he didn't think he was strong enough to do so again. The obligations and responsibilities that had kept him going the last time were gone and he was terrified that he was going to end up needing them again, but this time they wouldn't be there. He took a deep breath and started, this time to give her the full story.

"I got hit with the spear on that mission I went on with Andros last week. Basically we went to this planet, I forget the name of it, out in the middle of nowhere. The person who lived there had gotten his hands on the World gems, a set of gems that legendarily have great power. Power Andros thinks can be used to tap into the Morphin' Grid. Nex, the person who had them, was not, however, the type of person you want to have that kind of power. So we, well I, broke into his compound and relieved him of the temptation to use them for evil. Unfortunately he had them really well guarded and I got hit by one of his traps right before Andros teleported me out."

"If he could teleport you out then why didn't he just go ahead and pull the damn gems out without putting you in any danger?" Kim's voice, while low, vibrated with rage.

"He said that they're signal wasn't strong enough for him to get a lock on."

"And you believed him?" Icy sarcasm had joined the rage.

"Well, yeah. Why would he go to all the trouble of getting highly confidential items from KO-35, picking me up from Earth and inserting me into Nex's compound if he could just pull them out himself?"

"Because he was bored? I don't know why he did it, but if it's powerful enough to fuel a morpher don't you think it would be powerful enough for him to get a lock on without endangering your life?"

Tommy wasn't sure why she seemed to be focusing on Andros but he was willing to go with it if it spared him the brunt of her anger. "Maybe it's because there were five of them. The signals were so disparate he needed one very strong one to lock onto." Okay maybe he wasn't totally going with it but then it didn't seem completely fair to just blame Andros. Surely he'd had a good reason . . . right? To his delight she did actually seem to consider this for a minute.

"I suppose that could be true" she said finally, slowly. "But that doesn't change anything," she snapped just as he started to relax. "Why did he have to call you? Why is it always you? You get picked to be the first evil Ranger. You get picked as the one to be the first White ranger, which I'll admit was great at the time since there's really no one any of us would have preferred but still. And then you're the only one of the original team who has to be forced into retirement because otherwise the Power was gonna just keep picking you. But even that wasn't enough to get you away from it. Andros finds trouble on the moon and who's the first person he calls? You. And then you get to put together the mission. And then you had to go and create Powers. And then bond with one of the damn things yourself so that instead of just being a mentor you've now become a ranger as well, again. And then, just when it seems like you might be done and ready to settle down Andros calls again. Why you? Why does he always have to call you?"

"Because I'm first on speed dial?" Tommy offered feebly.

Kim glared at him. "Don't mess with me Thomas James Oliver. Why don't you try telling me exactly why it was he picked you?"

"Because of the gift from my Dino Gem. I can go invisible; I wasn't seen by the security cameras because of that. It made me perfect for sneaking in."

"And why in hell did you agree to this madness?"

"Because I was the only choice. I was the only one who had a serious chance of making it out alive. I wasn't in any real danger until the very end because I could go invisible. The only other person who had even a chance of doing as well would have been Trent with his chameleon gift, but I had an additional layer of protection. I had an active morpher. Honestly I don't want to know the damage that spear would have done if I hadn't been in morph at the time. That's why I agreed, why I went on this little trip, I was the best, hell the only chose for the job."

"But it's always you" Kim protested. "Can you explain that?"

"No. I just seem to attract trouble. You attracted your fair share during your time on the team." Tommy immediately regretted going on the offensive as Kim's eyes darkened.

"And that has what to do with any of this? I'm the one who was actually able to give it up. Yeah at first I missed it a lot, I missed doing something tangible, making a difference in the world, but I was able to move on from that. I'm not the one who refuses to recognize that he's not a kid anymore." She was yelling at this point but didn't really care.

"Hey." Tommy was offended. "I can still pull it off. I may be old but I've still got it."

"But you don't have to. You can let the new one's have a chance to shine. We've had our time, now it's time to let someone else have theirs."

"Well maybe I don't want to give it up. Maybe I still love being able to go out and save the world on a semi-frequent basis."

"Then maybe we need to rethink this relationship," Kim said after a long pause. "As much as I still love you and as much as I want you in my life and that of our girls it's not going to work if you're still going to run off every time there's something to be done. As long as if given a choice you'll pick the Rangers over your family I don't think we can do this. It was one thing 10 years ago when we were the only choice Earth had, but we're not anymore. There are what, almost a hundred Rangers on Earth now? We are no longer Earth's only option. But as long as you think you are this," she motioned between the two of them, "isn't going to work. Think about that." With that she grabbed her purse and stalked out of the room.

Tommy just sat there in stunned silence for a while. The one thing he feared the most had come to pass. She had left him because of this and he had no idea what he was going to do about it. Other then kill Andros of course.

Tommy wasn't sure how long he sat there lost and bewildered in a sea of hurt and pain. All of his anger had fled the moment Kim walked out and he felt only the pain of her loss. When he finally regained enough of his senses he realized where he still was and standing he tried to ease the ache out of muscles gone still from sitting still for so long. He turned off all the lights and shut the door to Kim's office, but not before staring at a photo of her and the girls that hung on the wall by the light switch. He stood in the hallway for a moment and hearing footsteps overhead realized Jason was still around.

He almost started up the stairs to pour out his heartache on the shoulder of his best friend but after a moment he stopped. Jason was more then his best friend, he was Kim's surrogate brother and had helped her raised the girls for the last 10 years. The two of them were closer then he and Jason had ever been. There was no telling what she'd told him and he was in no mood for another rant about his choices tonight. With a sigh he turned away from the stairs and left the building. With a heavy heart he trudged up to the Cyberspace to see if Hayley would give him a ride back up to the school so he could get his jeep.

Jason stood at the window and watched Tommy walk away. He'd been about to go down and see if Tommy wanted to talk when he heard the front door open and close. Kim had called him close to an hour ago, not long after she left, near hysterics to tell him what had happened. Honestly he hurt for both of them and had told Kim he had no intention of picking sides. They had to work this out on their own. He'd listen but that's all he would do. He'd listen to both of them if Tommy decided he wanted to confide but he doubted that would happen. He knew Tommy probably thought he'd pick Kim's side and so he, Tommy that is, would likely avoid both of them.

Jason didn't think he could have picked a side even if he wanted to. He could see where both of them were coming from and he sympathized with each. Neither of them was in an enviable position right now, they were both incredibly stubborn and he didn't see either backing down from their chosen stance any time soon. But he was more worried about Tommy. Kim had the girls and the center to ground her and keep her going but Tommy was adrift. He had work but he'd told Jason one thing he liked about teaching was the sheer mechanical-ness. It was the same motions day in and day out, all one had to do was follow the lesson plan. He didn't have anything that was truly and uniquely his to focus on, to ground him. He didn't have anyone relying on him like he did before. He was alone now. Turning away from the window Jason grabbed his keys off the desk. He wasn't going to let Tommy drown himself in sorrow. He was going out there. Tonight.

Jason beat Tommy home since his truck was right there when Tommy had to get to the high school first. Since he had a key he went ahead and let himself in. Winters may be warmer in California but the nights are still pretty cold and Jason had no desire to freeze out on the porch in November when he could wait inside. He resisted the urge to poke around once inside and instead settled down in the living room to wait.

When Tommy got home some 15 minutes later he saw Jason's jeep parked in front of the house and light shining from the living room. He briefly considered ducking around to the secret entrance to the lab but then decided that would be the coward's way. There was no telling how long Jason would sit in his living room if he didn't go in and he couldn't hide out in his lab for the rest of his life. Though to be perfectly honest at the minute that seemed like a pretty good idea. If he hid out in the lab he didn't have to deal with the fact that he'd managed to screw things up with Kim, again.

He sat too long in his jeep trying to make up his mind and Jason appeared in the door of the house. He'd seen the headlights and when no one came to the door he'd decided to investigate and see what was up. With a sigh Tommy got out and grabbed his stuff. Since Jason knew he was home he might as well face the music. He was pretty sure he knew why Jason was there, he just didn't think he could deal with another person's anger because of the decisions he'd made.

Tommy pushed past Jason and was surprised not to see the anger he had anticipated but rather something he interpreted as pity. That pissed him off, just because he'd fucked up did not mean he needed to deal with the other man's pity. But as quickly as the anger came it was gone again. As he pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge he acknowledged that he was worth pitying. He'd waited 10 years for a second chance and he'd blown it in less then a week. That had to be some sort of record. He turned and found Jason lounging against the doorway to the living room.

"Why are you here?" He asked quietly, making sure to avoid meeting Jason's eyes, he didn't need to see the pity in them again.

"To let you talk, rant, whatever; to keep you from withdrawing into yourself. 'Cause I know you bro, you will try to draw into your safe little shell and keep out the world. I couldn't do anything about it last time but I can this time and I'm not gonna let you do it."

"Why do you care?" Tommy turned to stare out the window. "You shouldn't care. I screwed up. I hurt her again. Hell we didn't' even really make it a week this time. We just had our first date a couple of days ago."

"You can't take all the blame this time bro. Kim is nearly just as much to blame. And she knows it. She called me, hysterical, because she gave you an ultimatum so she can't back down from it but she didn't want to. But she has a point don't you think?" Jason came up beside Tommy and laid a hand on his shoulder. "We're getting old bro. We gotta let the kids take over now while we still got enough to rescue them if needed. They've got to take over at some point, why not while we can still guide them?"

"I can't give it up man." Tommy hoped Jason wouldn't ask him to explain but it was obviously not his lucky day.

"And why not? Because you've been one longer then the rest of us? Because you feel like you still have to atone for being Earth's first Evil Ranger? Why can't you stop Tommy?"

Tommy wasn't quiet for a minute as he thought of exactly what he wanted to say. "I can't stop because, as pathetic as this sounds, it's all I have. It's the one thing I'm truly good at, the one things that's always there for me. All of you guys have done something with your lives but me, all I have is Rangering."

Jason was surprised by the conviction in Tommy's voice and was unsure how to respond to such blatant stupidity. For lack of anything better he decided to express that thought. "I really don't know what to say bro. That has got to be the stupidest thing you've ever said." He ignored the shocked look on Tommy's face and plowed on having managed to find the words to express what he was feeling. "You do have more in your life then Rangering. You've got friends, kids who need you, a woman who loves you and a good steady job. You have a Ph.D. They don't just hand those out so I know you've got to be more intelligent then what you're showing me right now. What more do you want bro?"

"To make a mark on the world."

"You do that every day when you go to work man. There is no better way to change the world then to mold the minds of the young. Everyday when you teach them, when you show them what's important, you're changing the world."

"Am I really? Or am I just telling them things they'll forget once their gone?"

"Both obviously. Think about your favorite teachers from school. You might not remember everything they taught you in class but you remember the life lessons they gave. And I've got no doubt that you are that kind of teacher. I hear the kids talking about you, you're making an impression, and you are making a difference."

Tommy was silent as he thought about this. Jason had started a quest for edible food to snack on when Tommy next spoke. "What about love?" I'm hopeless at it. I lost the best thing in my life once because of sheer stupidity and pigheadedness and now I'm about to do it again. Why shouldn't I dedicate myself to bring a Ranger? It doesn't leave me when I screw up."

"You shouldn't because unlike Kim when you get old it will leave you. When you can't go out and fight anymore you'll be even more miserable then you are now. I can't make this choice for you Tommy but think about this. You're 28. When you were 18 they told you to move on and live a new life, one that didn't include Rangering. But you're still doing it. Isn't it time to let a new group of kids have the adventures we had? Isn't it time for you to get that family I know you always wanted? How many times did you tell me when we were kids that you wanted a family? A family bound by blood and love? And now that it's in your reach you're going to give it up? That's not the Tommy Oliver I know?"

"What are you saying Jase?"

"Just think about what it is you really want and then go for it. But you have to make a choice." He indicated the frozen pizza on the counter. "And eat something while. I'm out-"

"Don't do." Tommy interrupted. "Let's just forget this for a while. I promise to think about it, but don't go."

"Okay, if you want me to I'll stay."

There was silence in the kitchen for a while that was eventually broken by a sports comment. From that point they were just two guys hanging out but Tommy held to his promise. Even as he and Jason made use of his frequently unused Plasma TV to watch whatever struck their fancy he was thinking about what Jason had said. Thinking and trying to come up with an answer to his dilemma. This would be a decision that would change his life. Once he finally made a decision.

2 days later he showed up at Jason and Kim's house. A bit nervous, actually a lot nervous, he rang the bell. It seemed to take an eternity before the door was opened. Fortunately it was not one of the twins that opened the door but Jason. He grinned at the nervous look on Tommy's face.

"What's up bro?"

"Is Kim here? I have to talk to her."

"Yeah, she's helping the girls with their homework. Geology is giving them all fits. I just stay far away. But I'll brave the insanity and get her for you."

"Thanks. Can you keep the girls away while we talk?"

Jason nodded. "But you have to help them with their science later. Lord knows I'm no good at it, neither is Kim. And wouldn't it be embarrassing if they failed science when their dad teaches it?"

Tommy glared at him and he laughed. So Tommy punched him lightly in the shoulder and pushed past him into the house. "Just get Kim would you."

When Kim came in she found Tommy leaning against the mantle staring at a picture of she and the girls. His left hand was buried in the pocket of his pants and from the muscles jumping beneath the skin she decided whatever he had hidden, and given the odd shape he'd definitely stashed something there, but whatever it was it was making him nervous. And as much as she wanted to rush to him, to hold him and tell him she was sorry she didn't, she couldn't. As much as she regretted the ultimatum she had given she had to stick to it. She had to many other things to consider now.

"What can I do for you?" she asked, wincing a bit herself at the coolness of her tone. Tommy didn't notice her wince, he was to busy fixing the frame he'd knocked over when he flinched.

"To talk, but if now's a bad time . . ."

"No, no. We can talk. What did you want to talk about?"

"Us. But first I wanted to give you something." He walked over and handed her the two metal cuffs he'd pulled out of his pocket. Kim stared at them in confusion for a moment before raising her head to look him in the eye.

"I don't understand. What are these?"

"Those," he took a deep breath. He hadn't expected to have to explain this part although he supposed it made sense considering when she'd left the team. "Those are my Zeonizers." Her eyes widened but he ignored that as he continued. "Those are my only operation morphers. I can still go Ninjetti occasionally, and of course I can go invisible but I can't give you the controls for those." He paused and she jumped in.

"You're choosing me." She whispered looking down at what she held and then back up at him with tears shimmering in her eyes.

Tommy smiled, a bit sadly. "Yes." He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. "I do choose you. I did a lot of thinking and this is what I want, it's what I have to do. You're right. It's time for me to really pass on the mantle. I do have other responsibilities now. Responsibilities that are, in their own way, just as important as being a Ranger. So I'm giving you those. That requires that you find out anytime I want to go on a mission. If I have to ask you for my morphers you'll know I've gone."

"I appreciate what your doing Tommy and I don't want to press my luck but are you sure about this?"

"Yes."

"And you don't resent me for making you choose?"

"No it-"

She cut him off before he could finish. "Because I don't want you to resent me. I understand the pull, the rush of being a Ranger, it's just . . . you could have died." She said the last part in a near whisper that he almost missed. He frowned, not sure he'd heard her correctly but saying it once appeared to give her strength. "You could have died Tommy and then what would have happened. Would I have ever known why, would I have ever known it had happened? And I wouldn't have gotten to say goodbye. I wouldn't have gotten to tell you that I loved you. It would have been over before it started and I would have been left with a million things unsaid." She sniffed, tears running down her face. "That's what motivated me, the fear that you could have died. I can't live with that. I can't really see myself living without you," her voice trailed off into silence.

Tommy had listened to her with a growing sense of realization and now he reached out and pulled her into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his waist and continued to cry quietly against his chest while he stood with his chin resting on the top of her head. Finally the tears slowed and the sobs wracking her body stopped. When he judged that she was calm enough to actually listen to him he began to speak quietly without letting go of her.

"I'm so sorry Beautiful. I know it was selfish of me not to do that, more so it was stupid, thoughtless and senseless of me not to tell you where I was going or what I was doing. I don't really have any reasons for why I didn't except that Andros didn't really give me time. But even then I could have at least called while I was driving to Shallow Cove. I'm sorry, really I am. I won't do it again. I can't do it again, not if you have my Zeonizers. I can't hold a stable morph for an extended period of time without them."

About those," Kim pulled away reluctantly and held out his Zeonizers. "I want you to hold onto them Tommy. I appreciate the gesture and what your giving them to me means but I'd feel better if you kept them. I don't have anywhere safe enough to keep powered morphers. And really I'd just feel better in general if I knew you had them if you needed them. I trust you to tell me if you're going away again. I don't need to keep these so you have to, I trust that you'll want to."

Tommy looked at her for a minute, probing her eyes for sincerity. Satisfied she was telling the truth about how she felt he took them and gave her a short kiss. "I'll definitely want to. I don't like fighting with you and I don't like watching you walk away from me and not knowing whether or not you'll be back."

"Me neither. Although I always seem to be the one walking away. But I don't like doing it. I hate not knowing if we'll get over whatever it is that's plaguing us."

"So are we good."

"We're good."

"Excellent." He wrapped an arm around her waist and steered her towards the door. "So I hear you and the girls are having some trouble with science homework. What do you say to a bit of help from a science teacher?"


	4. Taylor's First Date

A.N: This one came out faster . . . I think. Which is amazing since my thesis hasn't come out of hiding yet and it's due in 3 weeks, or something like that. How far away is March 9th again? Anyway, this is the one of the long awaited, at least by me, first dates. I picked Taylor to go first because I had a kick-ass idea for Amanda's thats taking a bit more time. But I'm probably about half done with that one as well so hopefully it will be out by next week. Umm so read, enjoy, review all that fun stuff.

Tommy ground his teeth as he paced his study trying desperately not to act like the boorish Neanderthal his wife had accused him of being at dinner. All because he wasn't ready to watch one of his girls walk out the door with some man. Hell not even a man, she was 16, he was 17, they are both still children. He clenched and unclenched his hands helplessly as he remembered Kim telling him they should be glad Taylor had waited until she was 16 instead of say 14 the way so many other girls her age had done. Inwardly Tommy agreed, he likely would have beaten the hell out of any guy that had even suggested, hell thought about, taking his 14-year-old daughter out on a date. If he had his way his girls wouldn't date until they were 30, if ever. Personally he'd always thought convents were a great destination.

Kim kept telling him that he was being hypocritical since when he was 16 he'd had quite a healthy appreciation for the girls. And she kept pointing to their daughters as proof of this affection but so far as he was concerned that merely proved his point. He was pretty sure he'd seriously damage any boy that got one of his girls pregnant before marrying her, he was unsure how Mr. Hart had kept himself from calling him, Tommy, out. But he knew he wouldn't be so restrained. And besides, him at 16 was a totally different story. These were his little girls. So a convent seemed like a perfect option. Kim, however, had vehemently disagreed and now he found himself pacing and waiting for some kid to come pick up his daughter for her first date. He was not amused.

Suddenly he dropped into his desk chair and buried his face in his hands. "Where in the hell did the time go?" He thought to himself miserably. He looked up at the picture of the four of them from his wedding day and tired to gel that picture of a smiling 11-year-old with the one in his mind of his 16-year-old daughter. He was startled a moment later when someone put their hand on his shoulder, but instinctively he knew who it was. Reaching up he covered the questioning hand with his own. "What happened?" He asked, voice rough with emotion. "Where's my little girl gone Kimmie?"

Kim circled the chair and curled into his lap, laying her head on his chest. "They grew up Tiger. And we have to let them."

"I'm not ready to let them go yet."

"Neither am I," Kim sighed, "neither am I."

"The Carmelites" Tommy started but stopped when she swatted him."

"No dear. We're going to let them grow up. We're going to let Taylor go out with this boy tonight and we're going to hope she has a good time. And I'm going to pretend I'm mad when you stay up waiting for them but I'll actually be thrilled. And I'll be waiting up for you to come back to bed so you can reassure me that she came home fine."

"Deal." Tommy twisted his neck a bit and dropped a gentle kiss on her forehead before laying an even more gentle hand on her slightly rounded belly. "How is Adrian's baby brother doing tonight?"

"The baby is fine. But I don't know why you're so certain we're having a boy. I'm pretty sure it's another girl."

"Self preservation" Tommy answered. "Adrian and I are a little outnumbered around here, especially since Ethan moved out. Since Kira's moving out next month when she finally drags Conner to the altar if you have another boy then there will actually be gender equality around here. Besides Adrian wants a little brother. And Jason wants a namesake."

"You give Jason a namesake and every other male ranger you've ever served with will demand one as well." Kim giggled as she remembered what had happened at the Ranger get together that Jason had hosted at his house, what used to be her house as well, the month before.

"What's so funny?" Suspicion tinged Tommy's voice. Kim giggling for no reason could be a very dangerous thing.

"I was just remembering what happened at Jason's. All of you guys sitting around arguing about who was going to name whose baby after whom and why. All of us girls found it kind of cute."

"Well Jase has a point. You named the girls after the other female rangers you served with. And they're your best friends as well. He just wants us to name one of our boys after him."

"Remember, we do that and every other male Ranger you've served with would be clamoring to be next. You think they'd applaud us for going to the effort of finding names that don't include any of them instead of only honoring a few." Kim sounded disgusted with this lack of appreciation on the part of the male Rangers.

"We could pull names out of a hat. Then it would be up to chance."

Kim glared at him. "We are not pulling our child's name out of a hat Thomas." Her eyes turned thoughtful. "We could name him after his daddy."

Tommy paled. "You want to name the baby after me?"

"Yeah." Kim eyes his pale face with confusion. "Is that a problem?"

"People might call him junior" Tommy whispered in an appalled tone.

"And you don't like that."

"No, it's terrible. It implies he's not really his own person but a mini-clone of his father. I don't want a mini-clone, it's a scary idea."

"Even though Adrian looks exactly like you," Kim said dryly.

"But he's not a junior."

"Thomas could be his middle name. Then he wouldn't be a junior."

Tommy brightened. "I could handle that. Nicholas Thomas would . . ." he trailed off when he noticed Kim was shaking her head.

"That kid from Mystic Force is Nick."

"I didn't serve on Mystic Force. I stayed far away from the scary cape wearing team." Tommy sounded marginally affronted that she would even suggest such a thing.

"And what would happen if the Legend named his son after someone he didn't even serve with?"

"Umm, his best friend would kill him and his poor widow would be forced to raise their children all alone?"

"Yep. And I don't want to raise them alone."

The doorbell ringing interrupted their conversation and reminded Tommy of what was going to occur tonight. He stiffened and accidentally tightened his hand on Kim's a tad beyond her comfort zone. "Ouch" she said, tugged on the offended appendage. "It'll be okay handsome. They're just going out for pizza and a movie. It's not like Prom or something."

Tommy turned slightly wild eyes on her. "But he's a boy. I remember being that age. You seriously think I want my little girl around me at that age?"

"I was with you at that age. You were a perfect gentleman. And should this Preston be less of a gentleman then he ought remember who taught your daughter how to defend herself."

Tommy relaxed a bit after being reminded that he and the man he considered to be his biggest competition had been the ones to teach the twins to defend themselves. "If she's forced to use what I taught her," he growled, "this boy will wish he'd never been born."

"I'm sure. Now how 'bout we go meet him so you can threaten him in person. That will no doubt be much more effective then you telling me things I already know." She pressed a kiss to his lips to let him know she wasn't mad and then slipped off his lap and held out her hand. "Coming?"

They entered the living room to find Amanda talking with a guy they assumed was Taylor's date. He was tall with the almost gangly build a lot of 17-year-old boys have. He hadn't yet filled in, he was still growing into and getting used to his long arms and legs. He had the slightly muscular build of an athlete going through a growth spurt and the skinny body of many teenage boys. His curly black hair had been grown a bit longer then was fashionable in an effort to tame it, but it didn't quite reach his shoulders. His grey eyes widened a bit in fear when he noticed the couple in the doorway.

"Dr. Oliver?" He said, surprise evident in his voice. "You're Taylor's father?"

"Mr. King. Why am I surprised? How many 'Preston's' can there be running around this town?" Tommy's voice was decidedly more welcoming then his prior attitude would have led one to believe would be possible while meeting his daughter's date.

Preston visibly relaxed at the welcoming tone of Tommy's voice before turning to Kim. He held out his hand. "Preston King ma'am."

She took the proffered hand. "Kimberly Oliver. You know my husband?"

"Yes ma'am. He's been my science teacher for the last three years. This year I'm taking his A.P Biology class as well as A.P. Chemistry."

"Impressive. So you're a senior?"

"Yes ma'am."

"What are you planning on doing after graduation?"

"I'm going to study science at UC Berkley. I haven't decided which particular branch of science I want to focus on yet. But the core classes for any of the science majors are the same so I have some time to make up my mind."

"Appease my curiosity Mr. King and tell me how it is that you met my daughter. I was unaware that senior and sophomores spent an appreciable amount of time together." Tommy was genuinely curious. The teacher's gossip network at Reefside High was usually pretty good which was part of why he'd been so nervous. There hadn't been anything that would have suggested Taylor had an interest in the young man in front of him. He'd assumed she was going to be going out with one of the boys from one of Reefside's two private schools. He was both relieved and surprised to see he was wrong.

"The squad decided to get in some extra practice by cheering at one of my track meets. We just started talking."

Before Tommy could further question this a throat cleared behind him and he watched in consternation as Preston's eyes left him and settled on a point behind him, his daughter he assumed. The disturbing part was the light in his eyes as he did so. A light Tommy recognized since it was in Kim's eyes every time she looked at him. Just as he was sure it was in his own when he looked at her. Fortunately Taylor saved him from dwelling on it overly much, at least for now.

"Sorry I'm late. Adrian hid my shoes and I had to look for them."

Preston smiled. "It's okay, the wait was worth it. And I got to talk to your parents a little. I'm sure they appreciated that. I know my parents interrogated Josh the first time he took Rose out."

Tommy turned to face his daughter and had to blink several times. This young woman was his little girl? Impossible.

Taylor had lived up to her early promise of height, ending up just shy of 5'9". However, since Preston stood at 6'2" she'd paired her pink sundress with a pair of heeled, strappy white sandals. She'd done something to her hair to make the natural red highlights stand out even more and she'd caught up most of the curls in a clip, leaving only a few to tumble around her neck and shoulders. Tommy couldn't find anything to complain about, the dress hit just above her knees and the neckline was perfectly modest but the picture she presented nevertheless disturbed him. It was a picture that made it perfectly clear that his little girl had grown up, that she was indeed a young lady now.

Preston was definitely appreciative of the image. "Wow." He said when he got a good look as she came into the room. "You look absolutely amazing." Taylor didn't respond vocally but she did flush a light pink with pleasure. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yep." Taylor hugged her twin and her mother and then stepped in front of Tommy. "Do you like him daddy?" She asked quietly so no one else could hear. Tommy clenched his jaw but nodded. Taylor grinned and hugged him as well. "I love you daddy," she whispered in his ear and then she and Preston were gone.

"You approve of him, don't you?" Kim said into the silence left behind. "You let him out of here without a single threat." She explained in answer to his questioning look.

"He's a good kid. And he's always in my room during his free period and after classes. We've had a lot of good talks. I'm sure he'll be fine. If I was putting together a new team he'd be on it."

Kim looked suitably impressed. "High praise indeed."

"But I'll still be waiting up for them to return."

Kim laughed. "And the Tommy I know and love returns."

The End


	5. Kim's Reaction Take Two

A.N: I've been working on some other stuff but it goes slowly, very slowly. Slowed down even further by an evil thesis that is due in umm 9 days. Not good. So yeah I'll try to get that up soon. In the meantime this is the original version of Kim finding out about Tommy's little mission with Andros. The one I scrapped. But since its on my computer I thought I'd give you something to read. Aren't I nice?

A week after Tommy returned from the little retrieval mission he'd run for Andros Hayley and Kim ganged up on him to find out exactly where it was he'd gone. He'd managed to put if off until he thought they'd forgotten in favor of other things, like the fact that Thanksgiving was about a week away and Christmas not long after and he was right, they had. But then Hayley came down to the lab while he was working out and saw the new scar on his thigh. Even if she hadn't been completely familiar with every scar on his body because she'd been the one to patch him up for the last however many years she still would have known it was new, it still had that shiny pink appearance of new tissue.

Hayley thought about haranguing him on her own but then realized it would be much more effective if she enlisted some aid and the first aid she thought of was his new, or not so new or whatever you might want to call it, girlfriend. She thought briefly about enlisting Jason and Zach as well but remembering the Red Ranger Mission Tommy had gone on a couple of years ago she decided against recruiting the other former rangers. Jason at least was also a former Red and Hayley had noted the bonds that existed between rangers of the same color. And while she hadn't seen it between 2 blacks she assumed it existed there as well and she wasn't taking any chances. She and Kim would get it out of him.

Hayley waited until Tommy had gone up to shower before calling Kim. She'd done some thinking while working on the program she was developing and she'd decided the best way to do this would be to ambush him. Preferably tonight. As soon as he was gone she shut down the computer and went up to the kitchen, closing the lab up behind her. There she grabbed his cell phone off the table and looked through the address book until she found Kim's entry. Hitting 'dial' she waited for Kim to pick up, keeping one eye on the doorway to make sure Tommy didn't come back.

"Hey Tiger," Kim answered, "What's up?"

"It's actually Hayley."

"Oh, hey Hayley." She paused a moment. "Is Tommy okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't he be?"

"I dunno, but you're calling from his phone."

"Oh, right. I left mine outside and his was closer. Sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out or anything."

"It's all good. So, what's up?"

"Did Tommy ever tell you where he went last week?"

"No, now that you mention it he didn't. Why? Did he tell you?"

"Nope, but it gave him a new scar. He doesn't know I've seen it but he's got a shiny new one on his thigh, saw it myself while he was working out today. I was thinking maybe you could come over and we could team up to get it out of him."

"A new scar? I'm there. I'll be over in about a half hour. Don't start without me."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Hayley hung up and returned the phone to the table before turning to the fridge. Dinner would be a great excuse for why she was upstairs and not down in the lab and since she was fairly certain Tommy hadn't told Kim about the lab yet it would be much better if she was upstairs.

Tommy came in 10 minutes later to find Hayley busy at his stove. With an appreciate sniff he wandered over to see what she was cooking. "Spaghetti Hayles? Didn't we have ziti two days ago? And Alfredo yesterday?"

Hayley elbowed him from where she stood but didn't take her eyes off the meat, onions, mushrooms, and peppers cooking in a skillet. "Yes, spaghetti. You want something other then past you cook it. Since you refuse to eat boxed or frozen foods pasta is one of the fastest things to make."

"Right," Tommy said skeptically. "Where do we want to eat tonight? Living room? Dining room? Lab?"

"Dining room. We have company coming over so set the table for three."

"Company? Who's coming over? I didn't invite anybody."

"I know you didn't. I did. Kim's coming over."

Tommy grinned. "You're the best Hayles. Simply the best." He grabbed three plates out of the cupboard and went to do battle with the dining room table, which, so far as he was concerned, was in the process of spawning more tests and papers from the stack he'd brought home to grade.

20 minutes later Kim slipped in the back door to find Hayley pouring spaghetti sauce into a bowl and Tommy nowhere in sight. "Hey Hayley," she greeted the other woman. "Where's Tommy?"

"In his office grading the quote 'immense and spawning stack of papers which felt the need to spontaneously reproduce' end quote."

Kim giggled. "Let me guess, he put them off long enough that he forgot they were there and brought home another stack."

"Yep. Anyway, I figured we could eat dinner before we corner him. I don't know about you but I think better when my stomach isn't growling. We can get it out of him later."

"Sure. I'll follow your lead. In the meantime, what can I do to help?"

After dinner the three settled in the living room. Kim was curled against Tommy with her legs across his lap. This was a strategically planned maneuver. That would keep him on the couch once Hayley started questioning him about his disappearing act. It had the added benefit of being highly comfortable so as far as Kim was concerned she was making out like a bandit. Hayley didn't start questioning him right away, rather they continued their innocuous conversation from dinner about how Reefside High's football team was doing that season. When that conversation dwindled into silence Hayley decided it was time to bring up what she and Kim really wanted to discuss.

"So" she drew the word out. "Where did you and Andros go last week?"

Tommy started in surprise but, as anticipated, stopped as soon as he remembered Kim's legs across his lap. "Excuse me?" He asked faintly, hoping she'd not just asked him what he thought she'd asked.

Hayley glared. "You heard me Thomas. Where did you go with Andros last week?"

"I suppose if I tell you that we went to Phaedos with Zhane for a little vacation you wouldn't believe me."

"You suppose correctly. So where did you go? And while we're at it, what did you do, why you, and well just tell us everything."

"Basically we were getting some stones with the right sort of energy to make Rangers out of the hands of someone who would have used them for evil if he'd learned what they were. We couldn't take that chance so we removed the temptation."

"Great synopsis Dr. Oliver," Hayley said sardonically. "Now, can we have the complete story please. There must be more to it, after all you didn't explain that new scar you picked up, or why you, Andros and Zhane went to the old Command Center."

Tommy sighed. "You're to smart Hayley. Okay from the beginning then. Andros has spent the last couple of years tracking down the legend of a set of stones with reputed powers. He learned that they were real and managed to trace them to their current owner. There was however a bit of a problem with this new owner . . ."

When Tommy finished his story there was silence for a long while as Hayley and Kim absorbed what they'd just been told. Even though it was apparent that it had been necessary to get the jewels out it was still hard to reconcile using the Power to do so.

Finally Hayley broke the silence. "So why did you guys make that little trip to Angel Grove?"

"That's where we stashed the jewels. The defenses of the Command Center are still fully active and their stronger then they were even when Zordon was in residence. I've done a lot of upgrades to them. And Andros and I added another level to them while we were up there. And we didn't leave the jewels out in the open either. We hid them. Basically it was the safest place we could think of to leave them until they're needed. Neither of us wanted them in our houses."

"Understandable" Kim said, just before Hayley opened her mouth with an injudicious comment about the security of the lab. "Having that type of thing in your house is just asking for trouble."

Tommy nodded in agreement and Hayley couldn't pass up the opportunity to needle him a bit. "He's asking for trouble by his mere existence. Especially trouble of the Ranger sort. What's a bit more temptation for the bad guys?"

Tommy glared at her but Kim laughed in agreement. "That's true. I thought I was a magnet for trouble but maybe they just targeted me because we were dating. After all, other then that whole Divatox thing I haven't had any issues since giving up my Power Coin. Unlike some multi-hued Ranger we both know and love."

Tommy switched his glare to Kim and both women laughed. "It's so nice to see how loved I am." He said dryly. "I save the world and all I get is a bunch of ribbing. Wonderful. At least you guys aren't freaking out on me." He immediately regretted adding that last sentence as Kim whipped her head around and pinned him with a glare. As he gulped he could have sworn he saw her eyes flash Pink for a moment but since it lasted no more then a second he figured it was just a trick of light, not that he had much time to contemplate it since she was now laying into him with all the skill of a mother of two.

"You haven't even begun to hear about what I think of your little escapade Thomas Jeremy Oliver. What in the hell were you thinking? You could have died! You almost did die! Do you have any idea what that would have done to me? TO the girls? To Hayley? Especially since we didn't even know where in the hell you where or what in the hell you were doing! You just dropped off the face of the Earth, literally, without a single care and showed up a week later with nary an explanation. You can't do that type of stuff anymore Tommy." Kim's voice changed, became a bit softer, less strident. "You have responsibilities now. A family. You can't go tearing off at the drop of a hat. I know you think that you were the only one who could do it, and believe me, I'll be having a conversation with Andros about this, but that doesn't mean you can just disappear."

"But sometimes I have to go." Tommy interjected.

"I'm not saying that you can't ever go on special missions. God forbid the multi-hued Ranger actually hang up the spandex for good." Kim smiled at him to assure him she was joking. "But I am saying that if we're going to have a relationship, and if you're going to be a father to our girls you need to tell me when you're going. And I would appreciate getting some say in the matter, though I am well aware that that is as likely as me becoming a Red Ranger. But I won't stop you from going. Remember I was a Ranger myself, I am well aware of the necessity of some things. And I know the sacrifices that saving the world requires, the demands it makes on your time. But I have the right to make some demands myself. I don't think they're unreasonable. First of all, I want you to tell me you're leaving as far in advance as is possible. I know you don't ordinarily get a lot of warning but I want to know ASAP. Second, I want you to be careful. And the third isn't really a demand, more of a request. If it's at all possible for you to not go, if it can be done by a younger, less tied down Ranger then please, turn it over."

Hayley choked when Kim made her request and Tommy stared at her like he wasn't quite sure about what she'd just said. When it became obvious Tommy wasn't going to say anything Hayley began to speak. "I really don't think you're gonna get that one Kim. This is the guy they call the Legend after all. Can you really see him handing a mission over to someone else?"

Before Kim could respond Tommy broke in. "No Hayles, as much as it pains me to admit it I think maybe Kim might have a point." The words dragged themselves from him with reluctance. "I'm not 18 anymore. And I'm not single and carefree. I'm 28, in a committed relationship, a father of 2, and I have a good, steady job. I can't just run off the way say Conner can. So I'll think about it. I'll consider passing some of them onto other, more suitable shoulders."

Kim and Hayley just gaped at him. Neither had been expecting him to even contemplate agreeing to her request, especially not this quickly. Not wanting to push him and maybe lose the ground she'd gained Kim changed the subject, sort of. "What about the other two?"

"They seem perfectly reasonable to me. Though the second one isn't all up to me. There's only so much I can do on the whole staying safe front."

"I know and I want you to do as much as you can."

"That I can do."

Hayley saw the look on both of their faces and quickly excused herself to finish cleaning up from dinner. As she left the room she risked a glance behind her and swiftly corrected that mistake. Chuckling she made her way into the kitchen, shaking her head to dislodge the image of Tommy and Kim making out like a couple of teenagers. "They're gonna be just fine" she muttered to herself. "They make it through Ranger stuff they'll make it through anything."

The End


	6. Amanda's First Date

A.N: So sorry it took so long, I seem to say that a lot, but the good news is I finally turned in my thesis so thats that out of the way. So at least until the end of the school year my updates will hopefully be more regular. I have the next couple pieces of this story finished so maybe one a week or so for the next umm 3 or 4 weeks.

So I did Taylor's first date, this one is Amanda's. It's a little different. I hope you like it.

Somehow Tommy survived the several months after Taylor's date. Taylor had started seeing Preston on a regular basis and Tommy was tripping over them everywhere: school, Hailey's, the center Kim and Jason had opened, hell his house wasn't even safe. He was still getting used to the idea but he would readily admit that the process was expedited because he did actually approve of Preston. It's just he approved of Preston in general, not particularly for his daughter, but he was getting over that.

Kira and Conner had finally gotten married and removed their lovebirdness from his house. Mostly. They'd also purchased the property adjoining his so while they didn't sleep at his house they were still there, a lot. Ethan had also moved out, he was now living in New York working with Billy. The two of them had opened a company that did something with computer games and it was doing quite well. Trent was supplying the world with an internationally syndicated cartoon strip and had recently signed a contract to produce a comic book. All in all Tommy was very proud of what his team had accomplished. But their achievements added to his pain. He thought of the four of them as his kids nearly as much as his own children and while their accomplishments made him proud they also made him sad because they emphasized how much they'd grown, that they were now their own people.

As he sat in the lab fiddling with the clip he was about to put in his ranger history video he brooded about the necessity of kids growing up. Amanda was going out on her first official date tonight and it was making him feel old. Of course that could be a result of sleep deprivation. Jason Thomas, they'd bit the bullet and named him after Jase, hadn't been letting them sleep and it was starting to take its toll. JT, as they called him, was mostly a sunny baby, as long as the sun was up; he was a holy terror at night but Kim assured Tommy he'd grow out of it. The twins had been the same until about their first birthday but gradually they fell out of it. Tommy was hoping JT would be a quick learner and it wouldn't take him another eight months to learn. He couldn't be held responsible for his actions if he continued to lose this much sleep. Coffee could only do so much to keep one awake.

He was also brooding over the fact that Jason was mentoring Reefside's new Ranger team. That was the clip he was playing with right now, it was an addition to the video about the new team. As he worked he remembered putting it together for his team. It felt like it had been ages ago instead of just six short years. He stared for a long while at the picture of Jason's young Red, surprised at how much of himself he saw in the boy's face. Shaking his head he got back to work and just as he was finishing it up Kim's voice came through the intercom system they'd installed shortly before JT was born.  
"He's here Tommy."

Tommy groaned but replied. "On my way Beautiful." He closed the files and logged out, just in case, and then headed up to the kitchen. He made sure the trap door was snuggly closed and dusted himself off. Fixing on his grimmest look he stalked into the living room to intimidate the hell out of the boy who wanted to date his daughter, he'd lost his chance with Preston so he was going to make it up here.

His first impression of the boy was a messy cap of dark brown hair, faded jeans and a red polo shirt. Then he got a better look.

"Oh hell no," was his immediate response when he got a good look at the boy standing in his living room waiting to take his daughter out. He ignored Kim's glare, the one that meant he'd be sleeping on the couch tonight, and the look of hurt disbelief on Amanda's face. He concentrated instead on the boy in from of him as he reiterated his point. "Not a chance in hell."

The two women watched as the young man squared his shoulders and faced Tommy head-on. "And can I ask why you so adamantly refuse when you don't even know my name?" There was only the faintest tremor of nerves in his voice. His bearing, the bravado in his words reminded Tommy and Kim of the numerous times they'd watched Reds face off, usually with Goldar, but with any of their enemies. Kim thought she was starting to see Tommy's problem with what had seemed like a perfectly nice young man.

Tommy's eyes fell to the pewter cuff set with a red stone and edged in red runes on the boy's left wrist before looking him in the face again. "Ask Jason Scott why I don't want you dating my daughter. I'm sure he'll be more then happy to enlighten you."

The color drained from the young man's face as the implications of this statement sank in. "You know who I am? How in the hell do you know who I am?" Panic tinged his voice, probably at the thought of what Jason would do when he found out Tommy thought sardonically.

"I take it he hasn't shown you any videos yet."

"No, he mentioned something about a history video but there was a bit of a distraction and he didn't."

"Go ask him why Tommy Oliver categorically refuses to let you date his daughter. It'll all be come clear, Nolan right?"

"How do you know my name? Is this some sort of plot?"

Tommy sighed. "No plot, just go talk to Jason."

The boy, Nolan, glared for a moment and then pushed past. He stopped next to Amanda. "I'll be back," he said, loud enough for Tommy to hear. He ignored the sound of Tommy grinding his teeth and continued, "I'll go see Jason but I'll be back. I'll call if it gets too late and we'll reschedule. If it's fine with you that is?"

"It is," Amanda answered before Tommy could say anything. "I'm sorry. I'll talk to my dad; see what I can find out. I'll see you later." Her softer voice was pitched so Tommy couldn't hear what she said. Then she leaned up and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek and he was gone.

The second he was gone both Amanda and Kim rounded on Tommy with Kim going first.

"What the hell is going on here Tommy, you didn't even let the boy introduce himself before you started attacking him. I know you don't want the girls to grow up and all but you need to chill out. That display was ridiculous," she paused to take a breath and Amanda jumped in.

"How could you do that to me daddy? I was so embarrassed. Once he tells people about my crazy father I'll never get another date. And he'll never come back but I want him to." There was hurt more then anything else in Amanda's voice. This implied lack of trust in her judgment, evidenced by such an unequivocal 'no,' was like a blow to the heart. And Nolan's leaving was a second blow, she really liked him, she had from the moment she laid eyes on him before a game her field hockey team had played at a neighboring school, one of Reefsides's private high schools. Though he'd said he'd come back she didn't think he would and she didn't blame him either. She did believe he'd call, probably to break things off though and not to set up another date.

Tommy knew he was hurting his younger daughter but he was trying to protect her and sometimes to protect someone you have to hurt them. He was a high school crush, Amanda would get over this emotional pain and while she did so she'd be avoiding more pain. It was inevitable that if he allowed Amanda and Nolan to date that she would get hurt and he refused to allow that to happen when he could do something about it.

"I'm just trying to protect you." He said helplessly. He didn't want to hurt his little girl.

"How can you say that? You don't even know him dad. He's not going to hurt me."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Tommy said darkly. He wasn't worried about Nolan per se but the other psychological and physical ramifications of such a relationship.

Kim laid a calming hand on her daughters shoulder before addressing her husband. "What do you know that we don't Tommy? You're way to set on this to not have a good reason. What is it?"

Tommy sighed. How to explain this without telling his daughter? After all, it wasn't his secret to share. "Jason and Emily. Zach and Angela. Billy and Crystal. Trini and Dominic." He said finally, listing the most prominent Ranger-non Ranger relationships from their little group. He was gratified to see Kim's eyes widen in understanding and then narrow in concentration. He'd won her to his side. After all she hadn't spent the first 10 years of Amanda's life keeping her away from all things Ranger related to let her go out with one now.

Amanda glanced between her parents and she could see it as well. She didn't know why but she did know that somehow her dad and convinced her mother to side with him in his, to her mind, unprovoked attack on Nolan. So she went with the mature approach for handling the situation: she screamed in frustration and left the room.

"Are you sure?" Kim asked as soon as Amanda was gone.

"Completely. Remember I told you Jason was mentoring the new team?" At her nod he continued. "He sent me some basic info to update my Ranger history video including pictures of each member of the team. I was putting that part together when you told me he was here so I was just looking at his picture. Unless, like Conner, he has a twin it's him. Besides, even if he has a twin he reacted when I mentioned Jason. He's the one."

Kim shook her head. "We're gonna have to tell her Tommy. You know she can keep a secret and then she'll understand why we're saying no. Otherwise she'll just sneak around behind our backs and then we'll have the same problems but worse."

Tommy sighed. "But it's not our secret to tell. Hell, she doesn't even know who all of the original team is, just you, me, Jase and Zack. Nor does she know who was on the second team. Because those weren't our secrets to tell. And that was 16 years ago. If we couldn't justify that how can we justify telling her about someone who's currently a Ranger?

Kim smiled a little. "You know, they haven't forgiven us for having a party at Jason's while they were working at that camp. But I see what you're saying. They, Jason and this kid, are gonna have to make the call on this one."

Tommy held out his arms and wordlessly she slipped into his embrace. They stood that way for a long moment before Tommy spoke again. "I want to tell her," he said quietly against her hair. "I want to sit her down and explain it to her so she knows why I've done it. I hurt my little girl tonight and I can't fix it." He swallowed hard. "I'm afraid I won't be able to fix it."

Jason was working with Hayley to recalibrate one of the auxiliary Zords his team was likely to need sometime very soon when a distraught and annoyed teenager stomped into the room the team had dubbed the Batcave.

"How the hell does he know who I am?" Nolan demanded as soon as he knew he had Jason's attention.

"How does who know who you are?" Jason asked, concerned and mildly panicked.

"Her dad."

"Whose dad?"

"My dates dad." Nolan was paying no attention to the fact that he was giving answers that were less then helpful, rather he stalked around the cavernous room, that actually did look a lot like the Batcave from the George Clooney version of Batman, looking for something to hit.

Jason grabbed him and pushed him onto the sofa. "Sit still and start from the beginning."

Nolan glared at him but decided to do as the older man said. He was well aware of the fact that Jason could wipe the floor with him, without breaking a sweat, if he felt like it and while he wanted to hit something he didn't want that something to hit back. "Remember how I told you guys I had a date tonight?"

"Yeah, as I recall I told you to be careful because evil has a sadistic sense of timing and will most likely pick then to strike. Experience has taught me the safest dates are with other Rangers but I also refuse to curtail your social life."

"You don't have to" Nolan said bitterly. "Her dad is scary. He refused to let her go out with me the second he saw my face. And then he told me to as you why."

"He specified me?"

"Yeah. He told me 'go ask Jason Scott why I don't want you dating my daughter.' And he knows I'm a Ranger. He has to. He was looking at my bracelet."

"Names are good Nolan. Who knows who you are?"

"I don't know his first name. Last name's Oliver. He's kinda tall, a bit more so than me. Short, dark, kinda spikey hair. Scary looking."

Jason almost laughed at the succinct description of someone that sounded a look like Tommy and then the implications hit him. "Your date was Amanda Oliver?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Friend of the family. Tommy's wife and their two girls lived with me for a while."

Nolan brightened. "Oh. Then you can convince him to let us go out. You know I won't hurt her. You know I'm a good guy."

Jason was quiet for along moment. He was torn between wanting to support Nolan, because he did know that he would never intentionally hurt Amanda, and wanting to just as vehemently not allow them to go out together, ever, or at least not until this mess with Zimtox was cleared up.

"I think," he said finally, slowly, "that I have to explain who it is your dealing with here. Tommy is one of the original Rangers here on Earth. He was evil at first, brainwashed by Rita Repulsa and held that way by a spell placed on his sword, The Sword of Darkness. I broke the damn thing, the spell was destroyed and he joined our team. After the Green Power Coin failed our mentor, Zordon of Eltar, created the White one and gave those powers to Tommy. He is the longest serving Ranger on Earth, and he's worn four separate colors. He knows more then anyone what being a Ranger is like. His knowledge of the type of life we must lead by necessity is at war with his paternal instincts.

Jason could see he'd gotten through a bit, but he needed to really make Nolan see what was up. Only then would he be able to work with Tommy, or get around him. "I mentioned a couple of minutes ago that Tommy's wife and girls lived with me for a while. I should clarify that because it has no small bearing on what's happening here. Kim was also on the original team. She left to pursue he gymnastics dream. She and Tommy were a major item at the time, they were always off somewhere making out. Anyway, she came back for a visit at Christmas and I'm assuming they slept together because she got pregnant. She broke up with him about 2½ months after she got back to Florida, and then she found out. But she kept it from him, at first because he was a Ranger and his enemies would not have hesitated to use an innocent child, especially his child, against him. I fully supported that decision because I'd been there and I agreed that they would be safest if he remained ignorant of their existence. But between one excuse and another, including that Mesogog thing here a few years ago, it took her 10 years to tell him about the girls. During that entire period of time the four of us lived together."

Nolan was nodding a lot at this point. "Does he blame being a Ranger for not getting to spend time with his daughters when they were younger?"

"I don't know. Probably. Though he probably also blames himself. He always does."

Nolan frowned. "I can see all that, it makes sense and everything, but I'm still confused as to why he refuses to let us go out. And how he knew who I was."

Jason sighed. "The second of those is my fault. I sent him a couple pictures of you guys so that if anything happened he knows who the current Rangers are. We figured out several years ago that this is really helpful, otherwise you need to get a hold of them and can't because you haven't got the faintest idea as to who they are."

Nolan couldn't find anything to disagree with there. The only problem to secret identities is exactly that, they're secret and that can make it hard for people to contact you if needed.

"The dating thing is also kind of my fault. Tommy and Kim were the only couple on our team. The rest of us dated outside of it, partly because there was only one other girl. But all four of us tried our hands at Ranger-non Ranger relationships and let me tell you, it's hard. Actually, it's damn near impossible. Dates get interrupted, or abruptly cancelled, constantly. And very few people will put up with that for very long, especially when you can't give them a good reason for why it keeps happening. And because of this people get hurt."

Nolan's eyes widened in comprehension. "Of course, it all makes sense now." He was quiet for a moment. "Basically he saw what happened with you and the others and he doesn't want the same thing to happen to his daughter. He's trying to protect her."

"Exactly." Jason was proud that Nolan had finally put it together. "And I might as well tell you that, as much as I trust you and know you would never hurt her intentionally, some part of me agrees with him. I spent 10 years acting in place of her dad and on this I feel much the same way."

Nolan nodded. "I completely understand. And it all makes sense to me now. The thing is, I really like her. And I saw how much it hurt Amanda when her dad refused. I never want to see that look again. Not on her face." He took a deep breath, sure he was going to get yelled at for his next sentence but determined to try anyway. "Can't I tell her? She's the daughter of two Rangers, and partly raised by a third. If I tell her won't she understand?"

Jason sucked in a surprised breath. He hadn't really thought about doing that. The kid had a point. Amanda had known the identities of four of the original team and all of the Dino Thunder team for six years and had not once given them away. And she'd been remarkably stalwart when he, Tommy and Conner had disappeared for six weeks two years before on a Red mission. She'd taken it better then Taylor, Kim, Kira and most of the rest of the other former Rangers. All in all Nolan might have a point. And if he told her Jason could enlist her help in 'the Batcave' as well. Hayley could only give him so much of her time and he really needed more help. He nodded absently to himself that could work.

Nolan had been watching him closely and was hard put not to cheer when the older man nodded to himself. He'd been superficially gratified that he'd managed to surprise his mentor and glad he hadn't been rejected out of hand. Now that Jason was on his side he was pretty sure he'd be able to get his way.

"Don't tell her just yet." Jason said finally. "Let me talk to Tommy. I might be able to get him to see things our way."

A week later, after a rather violent discussion between Jason and Tommy that resulted in a multitude of bruises, cuts and a few broken ribs, Nolan arrived at the Oliver house again. This time Tommy had grudgingly agreed to let them go out. With the stipulation that first Nolan tell her he was a Ranger and then ask if she was still okay with it.

This time he was met at the door by a surly Tommy and shown directly into Tommy's office where he found Jason, Kim and Amanda already waiting for him. Jason winked at him, carefully so Tommy couldn't see, Kim glared, and Amanda grinned. All in all he got the welcome he was expecting. Tommy shut, and locked, the door and then took the seat behind his desk.

"I believe you have something to say to my daughter," he growled.

Nolan nodded and then turned to Amanda. "The reason you dad doesn't want you going out with me is because of this." He held out his wrist to show her his morpher. "I'm the current Red Ranger here in Reefside. He was just trying to keep you from getting hurt so he wanted to prevent us from dating. But I, and my mentor, convinced him that if you knew what was up, you'd be okay. So I'm supposed to ask if knowing this, knowing that I'll have to disappear a lot, you still want to go out with me?"

Amanda grinned. "Of course I do. I already know, but I'm glad you told me."

He was probably gaping like a stunned fish but Nolan didn't care. "How did you know?"

"My parents aren't nearly as clever as they think. Seriously. I knew who all those couples you were throwing around were. But I forgive you, you were, after all, just trying to protect me. But I want this," she turned back to Nolan. "I really want this."

Tommy was quiet for a minute until Jason gave him a slight shove. "Oww," he muttered, rubbing his ribs and glaring at Jason. "Fine," he said. "You can go then. Bring her back by 10," he added. Nolan and Amanda left. "IF she gets hurt," he added to Jason, "you're in trouble."

The End

8


	7. The Wedding

AN: I'm sooooo sorry. This was supposed to be up forever ago. And I really don't have a good excuse, it was written and everything, I just kept not typing it. My best excuse is that defenses of senior theses have been going on and I've gone to a lot to support my friends. That and there was spring break in which I did everything but rest. Still no excuse so I'm sorry.

Anyway, this chapter is, as the title suggests, the wedding. Tommy and Kim's wedding that is. It switches POV a lot. I tried to label the view changes cause I wrote the whole thing first person. The second half swaps back and forth quickly so its in bold and italic. Bold for Kim and Itaclics for Tommy. I think I mention it at that point to, in case you forget. I'm gonna try to be better from now on. Really I am.

KPOV

I looked in the mirror at an image that didn't seem real and pressed my hands to my stomach in an attempt to calm the roiling butterflies. I wasn't nervous about getting married per se; I knew I was ready for this. And I wasn't nervous about being jilted because I knew that the guys were here and that they'd had to physically restrain Tommy from trying to start things early. And I wasn't worried about the girls. They were more excited then Tommy and I together. No, none of that was bothering me.

No, what was worrying me was the impending sense of doom I got whenever I thought about the reception. Something about having every Ranger to ever don a uniform in a room with a helluva a lot of liquor and a helluva lot of people who didn't know our secret scared the hell out of me. That and the inevitable questions that would come when somebody recognized the Astro Rangers and wondered how we knew them. That was what had me worried because even though we'd tried to keep the number of civilians low there were some we had to invite. Both of my parents are gone but we had to invite Tommy's folks, and his brother and uncle and all the rest of his rather confusing family. We also had to invite Jason and Trini's parents and Billy's dad. We'd invited the Taylors but they weren't able to make it. And we'd managed to get out of inviting the Parks and DeSantos' because we didn't really know them all that well. That didn't include, however, the friends that Jason and I had made in Florida that we liked enough to invite and all the other people that get invited to this sort of thing. It was a disaster waiting to happen in terms of protecting our secret identities and it made me very nervous.

The one thing that had me anywhere near okay with it was that Hayley and Andros were going to man the bar. Neither one of them would have the smallest qualm about denying another drink to anyone who looked a little too drunk, particularly the former Rangers. I'd tried to convince Tommy that we should have a totally separate Ranger-only party but he hadn't liked that idea, something about it being too much effort for me. Which is untrue, that's why I have Hayley. We both like planning stuff like this, it would have been no biggie, but he refused. The thought was sweet at least.

Of course he also insisted we invite every Ranger possible. There were Rangers coming I didn't even know existed! Seriously, we had to invite the Galaxy Rangers? But he would have ended up inviting them anyway in that wonderfully casual way he's adopted, he tried to invite the butcher yesterday, so I made their invitation formal. And cringed the whole time, thinking of what could happen.

Aisha came in at that moment and caught me staring at the mirror with a face gone white beneath the makeup. She hurried over and laid a hand on my shoulder. My eyes snapped to hers in the mirror.

"What's wrong Kim? You were fine five minutes ago."

"The reception," I said, "it's going to be -"

"Fine," she cut me off. "Trini and I have personally spoken with every Ranger in attendance. They will be on their absolute best behavior. Nobody was invited when Andros and Ashley eloped so this is the first Ranger wedding, though I'll be not the last. They're all going to be good if they want to go to any others. They know what's at stake."

"What about the Astro Rangers? How do we explain them?" I knew I was asking questions I'd asked a million times, but I was seriously freaking out.

You hung out with Ashley and Cassie in high school. Tommy knows TJ and Carlos pretty well and Andros and Zhane came with Ash and Cas. Its okay sweetie. Everything will be fine. You need to stop thinking. Just enjoy your day. Trini and I will take care of everything."

At that moment Trini came into the room carrying a stack of three floral boxes, followed by Hayley with another stack. The girls came rushing in behind her with their eyes wide with excitement. As soon as they set the boxes down Amanda and Taylor whipped the lids off and simultaneously squealed. Suppressing my own squeal of giddy excitement at the sight of the flowers I hurried over to look at them more closely. The six of us stood there for a minute enjoying the beauty of the arrangements. A moment later Ashley stuck her head around the doorway.

"We're ready when you are," she said. "And I'm supposed to tell you sooner is better. Tommy's fidgeting."

I grinned. "I could be mean but I won't. Give us a minute or two and we should be ready." There was a brief flurry of activity as dresses were straightened, flowers distributed, Trini fussing with my veil, but finally, we were ready to go. As a small, tight knot we moved to the doors where Ashley, who was acting as my wedding coordinator, was waiting with Zack. Zack had agreed to act in the place of my dad and give me away. I would have asked Jase, but he was Tommy's best friend and his best man, so Zack got the honor instead. He grinned at me and offered his arm as Ashley hurriedly organized everything else.

"You ready?" He whispered. "Or should I cause a diversion so you can run away?" He grinned wickedly. "I could have lots of fun causing a diversion."

"No thanks," I whispered back. "I've been waiting for this for most of my life, so don't you dare mess it up Zachary Jamal Taylor."

TPOV

I'd never felt as sure of anything as I did standing there at the front of the church with my best friends at my side. Sneaking a look down the line I did have to choke back laughter at the sight of Adam, Billy and Justin looking rather uncomfortable in red vests and bow ties. Kim had steadfastly maintained that she refused to try to incorporate every Ranger color into our wedding. She wasn't even trying to work in all five of the one's we'd covered between ourselves, well mostly me but that's a different story, though in some way most of them had showed up anyway. Jason, Rocky, Billy, Adam and Justin were all wearing black tuxes with red waistcoats and bowties while I had pure, snowy white under my black tux. Kim's dress, I've been told, is white but the bridesmaid dresses are all yellow. Amanda wasn't such a fan of this, she wanted to wear a green dress, but Kim had prevailed, and then declared that our wedding colors were red and yellow because she said so and that was that.

Music started somewhere and I turned a bit to watch the bridal party enter. Taylor was first and she sauntered up, confident, sassy, and happy in her 'fairy tale princess' dress. Amanda followed, not as confident but just as, if not more happy than her sister, though it had less to do with the dress and more to do with the fact that she was thrilled to a million pieces that we were getting married. Hayley followed my girls and I noted Billy's sudden intake of breath, barely audible at my part of the line, with an amused, hidden smile. She was definitely looking gorgeous and I got the impression that 'the Brainiac' was a bit smitten. Aisha looked stunning as well and there was a similarly indrawn breath from Rocky. I waited in barely smothered amusement and sure enough, when Trini appeared in the doorway, looking as beautiful as ever, Jason took in his own breath. Making a note to harass the three of them later I turned fully and mentally prepared myself as the traditional bridal march started.

Kim appeared in the doorway and I swear I stopped breathing. If the girls had been cute, and if the others had been stunning, Kim was simply magnificent. She started towards me, an angel in white, and Jason leaned over to whisper in my ear.

"You gotta breathe man. This wedding won't end well if you don't."

I exhaled loudly and grinned at him sheepishly before turning back to Kim. Taylor might think her dress was fit for a fairytale princess but Kim's put hers to shame. The whole thing skimmed her curves till her hips when it started to flow out to fall in silken waves. Even from this distance I could see the occasional gleam of beads sewn onto it, probably in a pattern, and around the shallow neckline, which revealed only the faintest hint of her chest. A veil flowed over her hair, which she was wearing down, anchored by a wreath of white flowers, leaving her face uncovered so I could see the excitement in her eyes as she got closer. The back of the dress flowed into one of those train things, which ordinarily I don't like, but this time it added to the image of perfection.

The wait for Kim to join me was both interminable and amazingly short. I'd never before understood people who said time flew and stood still at the same time, but now I was firmly in their camp. It really does happen. But finally she was by my side and we turned to the priest together. We were both a bit stunned when, after the priest asked 'who gives this woman,' every member of the original team, and the girls, answered with Zack. The priest did not look a bit surprised; in fact he had this little twinkle in his eye that led me to believe he was involved. A surreptitious movement to my left drew my attention and I looked over just in time to see Kim carefully dabbing away a tear.

KPOV

When Zack answered the priest I was stunned, his was not the only voice I'd heard. The other six people that meant the absolute most to me, other than the man at my side of course, answered with him. Jason's baritone, Billy's tenor, Trini's soprano, Aisha's slightly lower soprano, and the distinctly girlish voices of my girls joined Zack's bass. The love and conviction in all of their voices affected me quite strongly and I had to squeeze my eyes shut for a moment to prevent myself from crying. But then I saw the twinkle in Fr. McCallen's eyes and knew they'd planned this with him and I couldn't help it, one of them escaped. I tried to dab it away without drawing any attention to myself but I know Tommy saw me. I felt him turn his head, felt his gaze on my face, and felt bereft when he turned back to Fr. McCallen.

Switching _TPOV_ and **KPOV**

**I was so focused on the thought that I was getting married, and so touched by what the group had done, the statement that they had made, that I missed most of what happened next. Thank goodness we were having this videotaped. But then Fr. McCallen was addressing Tommy and I was paying attention again.**

_I'd been paying attention to every word out of the priest's mouth and silently urging him to get to the good parts. Finally he made my day and started. 'Do you, Thomas James Oliver, agree to take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife . . .'_

_I mouthed every word with him and when he finished answered in a very resolute voice. 'I do.'_

_Then he turned to Kim to repeat the question and I snuck a sideways glance. Her eyes were bright with suppressed excitement but her voice was clear and steady as she answered._

**When Tommy said 'I do' in such a firm, determined voice a little shiver ran down my back, not a bad shiver mind, it was a good shiver, a very good one. Then it was my turn and I tried to make my voice just as determined, but I also tried to keep it steady. I was so excited that I was surprised I was standing still and not shaking. And nerves were setting in a little. Fr. McCallen had just called for the rings. Tommy and I had purchased each other's rings separately, though we had agreed on a few basic things first, and he hadn't seen his yet. I was hoping he liked it.**

_The rings were brought forth at that moment and I stared at them in surprise. Next to the delicate platinum band I'd gotten for Kim was a larger one, no in itself surprising since we'd agreed to go with platinum bands. What surprised me was the etching I could just make out on the outside of the band. Etched in exquisite detail was a tiger chasing a firebird, or a firebird chasing a tiger, hard to tell since it was etched onto a circle._

**I gazed at the two rings in shock. Awe had to have gone to the same jeweler. The etching on the band he'd bought for me was just as incredible as that on his. But where his had a tiger and a firebird mine had a falcon and a crane. With a smile playing on my lips, not quite there but not, not there, I turned to face him as he took my ring in hand.**

_Taking Kim's hand in my own left hand I aligned the ring with my right and as I began to speak the vows we'd altered together I slid it home. "With this ring I thee wed. With my body I thee worship. With my mind I thee inspire. With my heart I thee love. And with my soul I thee follow, to the ends of time and beyond."_

**I took a moment to stare at those beautiful brown eyes and then my ring before I picked up the remaining ring to repeat Tommy's gestures. Sliding the ring onto his finger I repeated his words, the ones we'd picked together. "With this ring I thee wed. With my body I thee worship. With my mind I thee inspire. With my heart I thee love. And with my soul I thee follow, to the ends of time and beyond." As I finished I raised my eyes to his and said the last two lines staring into his eyes, knowing they shone with all the love I felt for him.**

**We both looked to Fr. McCallen, who was smiling. He'd told us he really liked our version of the vows and if the smile on his face was any indication that was true. "By the power invested in me," he started. "By the Church and the State of California, I declare you man and wife." He paused and smiled. "You may kiss the bride."**

**Tommy bent his head and brushed his mouth across mine gently and then he immediately came back and settled there a little more firmly. It rapidly went deep and claiming and I got the impression he'd either forgotten or didn't care that we had an avidly watching audience. Before I could do anything to remind him Jason cleared his throat and I smiled against Tommy's mouth. We broke apart and looked towards Fr. McCallen again. He was grinning broadly this time, as was everyone else up at the altar with us.**

**"I present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas James Oliver." Everyone clapped, nice and polite, and then somebody, and I'll have to hurt whoever it was, hollered 'Finally' at which point everyone took up that chorus. Well, not everyone. The parents in the group looked confused, but all the Rangers were yelling it.**

_Somebody remind me to kill Conner later. I'd recognize that voice anywhere. Stupid boy, he got all the Rangers to cheer it. Like either of us wanted to be reminded that we'd wasted 10 years. But as I look at the good-natured faces of the people cheering, and Jason's chortling behind me, the humor of the situation hit me as well. Smiling even more broadly I tug Kim closer to my side._

_"Finally's definitely right. Finally your all mine." I leaned down and kissed her again, and this one picked up where the last had left off, deep and wild. Naturally this made the assembled group cheer louder and when I looked up even the parents had joined the yelling._

_Holding Kim's hand tightly in my own we headed down the aisle side by side._

THE END


	8. Good Morning Beautiful

A

A.N: This is completely inspired by the song "Good Morning Beautiful" which is sung by Gary Allen, I think. It's basically set the morning after Tommy and Kim's wedding The following are the set of lyric's I mainly used, though the whole song is amazing. But I really only used the refrain.

_Good morning beautiful, how was your night? Mine was wonderful with you by my side. And when I open my eyes and see your sweet face it's a good morning beautiful day. . ._

The morning after the best day in Tommy's life definitely ranked as the best in his life. In general Tommy Oliver was the epitome of 'not a morning person.' Without at least two cups of coffee he was grouchy and mostly incoherent and it wasn't until the third that he approached humanity. But this morning, the morning after his wedding to the woman he'd loved since he was 17, was unlike any other morning.

His rise into consciousness was gradual and peaceful, not at all the violent awakening it usually was. Before he opened his eyes he became aware of the warm body curled into his own and he did something he never did before his fifth cup of lifeblood, otherwise known as coffee, he smiled. Opening his eyes he looked down at the woman beside him, at his wife, and his smile got even wider. Shifting a little he made himself more comfortable so he could continue to watch her sleep without getting a stiff neck in the process.

The sunlight spilling in the window was a flattering accompaniment to her beauty he thought as he examined how it played on her face. It picked out the tiny freckles that spilled across the bridge of her nose and cast enticing shadows onto one side. He watched the tiny muscles in her face begin to move as she started to wake and stared, fascinated. She scrunched her nose and then cracked her eyes a bit. With a groan at the light that met them she buried her face into his chest, a chest rumbling with suppressed laughter.

"Good morning, beautiful." He said softly, urging her chin up and laying a loving kiss on her lips. His first good morning kiss he thought happily, the first of many.

"G-morning handsome." Kim's voice was roughened by sleep but it was easy to hear the love in it as well.

"How was your night?" He asked, stealing another kiss.

"Gooo . . . .ood," her voice cracked on a yawn halfway through but she persisted until the word was completed. She snuggled in more closely before continuing. "How was yours?"

"Wonderful" he said with a grin. "I don't think I've ever slept that well in my life." He teased.

Kim lifted herself onto an elbow and looked at him. "Oh you were talking about sleeping, well that part was fabulous."

If he hadn't seen the mischievous twinkle in the back of her eyes Tommy might have taken offence at the insinuation but he had so he decided to play along. "Nah, I was definitely talking about sleeping. I feeling amazingly well rested." The look on her face was priceless he decided as he broke into laughter.

Kim made an indignant noise and rolled away, intent on getting up. Tommy sobered quickly and reached out to grab her wrist. "I was teasing love." He said when she arched an eyebrow at him. "I did sleep well last night, but the rest of it was better. I'm glad we waited this time. It was worth it."

Mollified she allowed herself to be tugged back into his arms. "I thought you said it was a stupid idea."

"No, as I recall I said I thought it was likely to kill me. But it didn't, I'm alive and well."

"I can tell."

"And I really like this way of waking up. I like seeing your face first thing, feeling you beside me. It's a good feeling."

"I agree."

They fell into a companionable silence, just enjoying lying there with each other. Tommy drew lazy patterns on her upper arm and Kim stared at nothing in particular while her hand returned the favor next to her head on his chest. Finally, Tommy stirred a bit.

"Can you see the clock beautiful?"

She moved her head a bit. "It's 10:30." She sighed. "We have to leave by three, right? That way we can get to the airport in time to catch our flight?"

"Yep."

"I suppose we should start moving then."

"Okay." Tommy moved suddenly and she was pinned beneath him, staring into laughing brown eyes.

"Not what I had in mind handsome."

"I know," he said with a boyish grin. "But we've got plenty of time. Let's make the beautiful day better, shall we." He leaned down to kiss her and any protest was last in their rising passion.

The End


	9. A New Green Ranger

Three days after her first date, well first official date, with Nolan. Amanda joined Jason in his command center for her first day of work. Tommy hadn't been happy about it but Amanda had insisted and, feeling guilty about saying 'no' in such a manner with Nolan he had given in. It had helped that both Jason and Nolan had assured him, separately and well away from Amanda, that they would do their best to keep her in the command center and as far from the fighting as they could. And Kim had been on their side as well. So, highly outnumbered, he had given.

Jason had decided to start her on grunt work, he was still feeling bitter over his broken ribs attained on her behalf even though she'd apologized, thanked him, and in general made a big fuss over it. So he pointed to the stack of sketches, info, diagrams and what have you that needed filing. The stack was actually more of a mound that was as high as the desk. And it actually needed more work then just plain filing. "That," he said, "needs organizing. It needs to be scanned and filed on the computer and then the paper copies have to filed."

Amanda blanched when she saw the size of the stack. "All of it?"

"Yeah. I've gotten a little behind."

"A little behind? Uncle Jason I don't think you've filed anything in months."

Jason grinned. "It's possible. I got distracted by other stuff. If you need me I'll be over there." He pointed to the far end where several motorbikes sat. "If that," he pointed at the control screen and panel, "starts beeping and I don't hear it, yell for me."

"Okay." She looked at the pile again. "I feel like I'm being punished," she muttered as she started to sort through the mess in front of her.

The two fell swiftly in a rhythm. It took her nearly a month to get through the entire pile. She'd had the whole thing sorted and was just starting the scanning when Ashton, the teams Blue, went skidding across the floor during a sparring session with Nolan and sent all of her carefully organized papers flying. Once she finished with that Jason began assigning her odd jobs around the command center and she learned how to operate the teams communications system. All in all it was a very satisfactory arrangement and Jason was able to start spending parts of his afternoons at his dojo again since he knew things would be fine with Amanda in charge.

If Tommy realized how deeply Amanda had become embedded in the new team he gave no indication of it. And he didn't stand in the way of her blossoming relationship with Nolan. He'd even aided the pair a few times by assuring Nolan's mother that he was safely at Tommy's house when she called looking for him during a couple different battles. Those calls had made him wonder just how he and his friends had managed to hide it successfully for as long as they had, he for one had been horrible at lying and yet if his parents ever had any suspicions they'd never said a thing.

About 2½ months after Amanda started working with Jason something happened, a very innocuous something that would change her life. It happened during a battle. Jason was actually in the command center so he was keeping an eye on the battle and offering advice to the team through the Comm link while Amanda did small stuff around the room. She came across a small metal box sitting on the floor near the currently under repair motorbikes. It was plain, silvery metal with an unfastened latch but she'd never seen it before. So she opened it. And picked up the green stone nestled in black velvet in the top. The moment her fingers made contact with it both she and the stone began to emit a green glow.

"Uncle Jason," she hollered, her confusion and panic clear in her voice.

He turned, his question dying in his throat as he saw the last vestiges of the glow fading. "Damn it all to hell," he cursed instead. "Amanda Trini Oliver do you have any idea what you just did?"

"Something stupid."

"Yes! Your father will have my head for this. I promised him you'd be safe and as uninvolved as possible if he let you work down here. He's going to kill me."

"Umm, uncle Jason," Amanda was still really confused. "Can you tell me what just happened? I don't really understand."

Jason sighed. "The green elemental stone chose you. You are now the Green Elemental Ranger."

Amanda just gaped at him. "I'm the what?" Then it sank in. "Oh God, dad is gonna kill me! There is absolutely no way I'll be able to keep this from him." She looked at Jason completely panicked. "What do we do?"

Before Jason could answer Ashton's panicked voice came over the comm link. "Jason! You gotta tell us what to do. Quick!" Both of them spun to look at the screen and simultaneously cursed. Nolan lay in an unmoving heap against the wall of one of the warehouses and it looked like Ashton, and Myra would be joining him shortly if they didn't find a weakness in the monster they were fighting and quickly.

Jason turned back to Amanda. "There's not time to worry about your dad. They need your help."

Amanda nodded, resolute. Accepting the morpher from him silently she fit the stone into its resting place and waited for Jason to teleport her to the battle site. As she materialized beside Ashton and Myra she noticed out of the corner of her eye that he had teleported Nolan out. Hopefully they would be in time. Nodding to her new teammates she morphed for the first time.

As spandex coated her body and a helmet clicked into place she wondered that anyone could ever give this up. No wonder her dad and uncle Jason jumped at special missions like a dog at a bone. The rush of power was incredible. Laughing internally at the stunned posture and noises from Ashton and Myra she turned to the monster.

"Does it have any weaknesses uncle Jason?" she asked as she started to slowly circle it. Ashton and Myra took their cue from her and returned their attention to it as well.

"Its armor is weak at the neck. And after it shoots from that laser on its stomach there is a hole in its armor there for about 30 seconds."

"And Nolan?" Ashton asked, joining their little conference.

"He'll be fine. He took a knock to the back of the head it knocked him out. He's already conscious and demanding to be returned. And Amanda, I don't think your dads the only one you have to watch out for."

"Great" she muttered, breaking the connection. Focusing all of her attention on the thing before her she waited for an opening. Calling on the Sword of the Trees she stalked the monster, trading blows with it and waiting. After a few moments her opportunity came. Myra had been swiping at it with her Air Daggers and when it had turned all of its attention to her Amanda struck. Vaulting over Ashton and twisting in mid-air she brought the sword down right into the weak spot at its neck.

Unfortunately this did not have the effect she had intended. It did not incapacitate the monster, though it did weaken him a bit, but it also pissed him off, a lot. With a sweep of his arm he knocked her out of the air and to the ground. At that moment a battered but obviously living and raring to go Red Ranger arrived. The four quickly combined their weapons at Jason's instructions and taunted the thing until it finally blasted its laser cannon at them. The group rolled in unison out of harms way and came up firing. This was effective and blew the thing to a million little bits. But before they could celebrate, of course, the pieces recombined and grew.

The team wasted no time in calling on their Zords and Amanda got another thrill. Guiding one of the huge machines was incredible and she was inwardly reluctant to lock it into place with the others, but she had a job to do so she did it. Arriving in the control room with the others they wasted no time in blasting the larger version to pieces again, this time for good. The monster that had caused them so much trouble on the ground was much easier to destroy the second time and it didn't take long at all. Before she knew it Amanda's first battle as a Ranger was over.

But the battle to stay a Ranger, and alive and in one piece, had just begun. She still had to deal with Nolan who, as Jason had indicated, was not at all enthused with the idea. And she had to tell her dad. She knew her parents. They would figure it out; they were former Rangers after all. It would be better if she was up front with them about it. That way they couldn't accuse her of hiding anything.

No sooner had they arrived back at the command center then Nolan turned to her, anger tightening his handsome face. "What in the hell were you thinking? You could be hurt. You had to pick it up didn't you? Why do you always have to appease your damn curiosity?"

Amanda recognized the source of his anger as very real fear for her safety and stayed silent while he continued to rant. The rest of the team, Jason included, found themselves other things to do. For now this was an argument between the couple and they'd stay out of it. Eventually Nolan ran out of steam and fell silent. Amanda took that opportunity to speak up.

"It was an accident okay. I'm sorry but then I'm not, not really. Do you know how jealous I've been the last couple of months? Here I am, daughter of 2 originals, and I'm the one stuck in here while you guys are out battling evil and I've been tempted to join you a million times. It's in my blood dammit. And I can take care of myself. Uncle Jason started teaching me martial arts when I was five. I'll be more then fine. Even the best Rangers get hurt. You did today, my dad got hurt a few times, uncle Jason did, it happens. If that happens to me I'll deal with it, but I can't live my life hampered by the fear that I might get hurt. But," she said slowly, "if you don't want me on the team I'll relinquinish my place."

Three other heads snapped in their direction, proving that the rest of the team had at least been paying attention to the last bit. Nolan ignored all of them as he stared unseeing at the wall above her head for a moment before looking her in the face with a sigh. "Part of me wants to say I don't want you on the team, but that's the civilian part, the primitive part that demands that I protect you because you're my girlfriend. But that voice is drowned out by the Red, by the leader, who knows that our asses could all be grass right now if you hadn't found that stone, joined the battle and taken over when I was hurt. That part of me knows how much of an asset you'll be to the team." He looked at Jason, Ashton, and Myra. "And the decision isn't all mine. But if the rest of them are okay with it I am to."

Ashton and Myra were quick to chime in with their consent. They knew she was better then they were, even though she had only one actual battle at this point that fact had been rather obvious, and they knew her addition to the team would be a great help. Myra also liked the symmetry her presence would bring to the team. Jason was slower to answer, but then he, like Nolan, had other issues to work through. Amanda could see the anguish in his eyes, the battle between the uncle who had raised her and the mentor of the team, and crossing the room she grabbed his hands.

"You know I can do it uncle Jason, you trained me yourself. And you can keep an eye on me." She motioned at the command console. "Please, let me do this."

He let out a shuddering breath. "Yes." He waited through the tight hug she gave him. "I feel like I have to. It's like I've always know this day would come, the day you would pick up your Ranger heritage. It never occurred to me to think Taylor might do so, but I always figured you would. And I know I locked that stone away. So if you found it you were meant to have it, you wouldn't have found it otherwise. The Grid has always had a sense of humor when it comes to the Olivers. But your dad is going to kill me."

Nolan blanched as that occurred to him, he hadn't thought through all the ramifications yet, but as soon as Jason said it he saw it. "Oh no," he moaned. "He'll kill me too." Jason and Amanda looked at him curiously and he elaborated. "He made me promise to keep you as uninvolved as possible. There were some very specific threats to my continued health if anything happens to you and I'm pretty sure letting you onto the team will qualify."

"Probably." Jason and Amanda said simultaneously. Amanda looked at her morpher, which had resumed its usual inactive state of a very attractive pewter cuff set with the green stone that contained the Power, and then at Jason.

"I can't hide it so I won't. I at least have to tell dad."

"What? You can't tell anyone." Myra objected.

"She can tell her father, and her mother." Jason said firmly. "Remember the video? The rule about maintaining your identity does not include other Rangers. And once a Ranger, always a Ranger." Amanda finished in unison with him and they shared a grin before turning back to the astonished Yellow Ranger. "Her parents are Tommy Oliver and Kimberly Hart, original Rangers. She can tell them."

"Oh My God," Myra whispered while Ashton just stared. "No wonder you knew exactly what to do."

Amanda gave a self-conscious shrug. "I've been watching Nolan for two months. I just did what he would have done."

"Nonsense," Ashton said. "You exhibited tendencies that are unique and I must assume, given the lack of other evidence, that they are unique to you. Those tendencies cannot be learned and must be instinctual or based in your heritage. It will be interesting to watch the development of the offspring and protégé of such formidable Rangers."

Amanda stared for a minute and then nodded. "Just remember I'm not a science experiment, but observe all you like. I'd be interested in hearing your conclusions once you draw them." Ashton looked pleased that she'd understood him and nodded his agreement. Amanda decided at that point to change the subject. She didn't want the identity of her parents to shade her position on the team. She wanted to be accepted on her own merits, not those of the people she was related to.

Eventually Ashton and Myra got deeply involved in a conversation with Jason about an assignment for their business class and Amanda took advantage of their distraction to drag Nolan outside. "Are you really okay with this?" She demanded as soon as the door shut behind them. "Because if you aren't its not going to work."

"I'm sure. It's just . . ." He paused and raked a hair through his curls. "I was sacred today because I wasn't expecting it. But I do know you can take care of yourself. Hell, you've handed me my ass on a platter several times. And besides, I'll be around to watch your back, so I'm okay with it. Really. Besides, I need a second-in-command. I guess you'll do." He smiled impishly at her.

"You guess?!" Amanda growled in mock outrage. She lifted her hands. "Take back that uncertainty or I'll tickle you."

"Never." She moved her hands closer to his sides and with a laugh he turned and dashed for the woods at the edge of the property. With a laugh of her own Amanda chased after him. Nolan had longer legs but Amanda knew the property and was pretty quick so eventually she caught up with him. Launching herself at him she managed to tackle him and proceeded to tickle his ribs mercilessly.

"I give, mercy." Nolan finally gasped out. "You'll be a great second, I swear."

The minute she stopped he rolled and pinned her. "You're one evil little wench," he said. "You should be nicer."

"Bah. Not a chance." Amanda tried only half-heartedly to get away but really she just wanted to stay where she was, pinned to the ground by his body.

Nolan grinned. "I knew you'd say that." He lowered his head and kissed her. "I really am sorry about earlier." He said when he lifted his head a few minutes later.

"It's okay." She was about to say more but their communicators beeped, interrupting her. It was Jason telling her she had to be getting home. After assuring him they were on their way Amanda sighed. "Now I get to tell my dad, joy."

Nolan kissed her again and then they headed back to the command center hand-in-hand, now matter what the future may bring for now they were together and strong.


	10. Tommy Learns of the New Green Ranger

A.N: You have no idea how sorry I am this took so long to get out. Things got crazy with my computer not hooking to the internet, finals, graduation, moving home and all that stuff. I'm going to try to get the last written chapter of this story typed and posted before I leave for DE for the summer but I'm not thinking thats going to happen. I have no idea if I'll be able to post this summer, that depends on things at work. Anyway, hope you enjoy this and if you don't hear from me for the next few months I'll be back in the fall, hopefully with a new story. I've got a few ideas and I'm pretty much done with this one, just one, maybe two more to go unless I get some ideas from you guys.

When Amanda walked into her house that night she was not alone. Jason and Nolan had both argued for going with her and it had taken a while but eventually she'd managed to dissuade Nolan from his course. He'd left pouting, but as Amanda had pointed out, his presence was unlikely to help. Her parents still didn't really like him so they'd already be snappish if he was around which would make it worse when she told them what had happened. She'd intended to attempt to dissuade Jason as well but one look at him implacable face cured her of that notion. He wore the look he'd perfected as the original Red Ranger, his battle ready toss-it-at-me-and-I'll-kick-your-ass face. She'd sent that look a few times as a child and knew she wasn't going to be able to convince him, so she didn't try. A wise Ranger knows how to pick their battles after all, so Jason went with her.

When they walked in Jason was greeted with surprise and delight. Though a frequent visitor with a standing invitation he'd been working a lot lately and hadn't been by a lot. The relaxed way in which he was greeted assured both Jason and Amanda that Tommy and Kim hadn't heard about the new Ranger yet. They would have been bombarded with questions, or at least anxious glances, if they knew there was a new Ranger. So with a silent glance they decided to hold their news until after dinner.

Adrian was also delighted to see his uncle Jason and spent most of dinner regaling him with takes about school. He'd started pre-k that year and so far he thought school was pretty much the coolest thing ever. Even JT seemed happy to see him if the wide smile he gave when Jason held him was any indication. Taylor arrived not long after Amanda and Jason and shortly after that the group sat down to dinner.

The meal was fairly rowdy with everyone talking and laughing and in general having a good time. Taylor told them all about some of the mishaps in her afternoon Tumblin' Tots class at the gymnastics center. Adrian, of course, told them about school. Tommy shared a story about his freshmen class and Kim had a few of her to share. If anyone noticed that neither Jason nor Amanda had anything to share they didn't say a word.

After dinner Amanda helped her mother clan up while Jason and Tommy talked down in the lab. Jason had a question about one of the modifications to the Dino-bikes and Tommy was showing him Hayley's notes on it. As soon as Amanda and Kim were finished with the dishes she practically pushed Kim towards the steps to the lab.

"Taylor," she hollered, "I have to talk to mom and ad for a bit in the lab. Can you keep an eye on the boys since you'll be the only one around?" She asked when her twin appeared.

"Sure. Did uncle Jason leave yet?"

"Nope, but he's involved so I need him down there as well."

"Alright. Preston's coming over to study but we can do that in the living room."

Amanda grinned at her sister. "To study huh? And how do a sophomore and a senior study together?"

Taylor shut her an identical grin. "Very carefully. IF you're nice I'll give you some pointers."

At which point Kim snapped out a partly scandalized, partly teasing "girls!" Both of them shot sheepish looks at their mother and she threw up her hands in exasperation. "Let's go Amanda. I have to put Adrian in the bath in an hour and JT should be getting hungry soon."

As soon as Kim's back was turned Amanda rolled her eyes at her sister and then followed her mother down the steps. Stopping to carefully close the door behind herself. If Preston was coming over to study it wouldn't do for him to overhear the sure to be heated discussion about to occur. Hell, her sister didn't need to hear it. She wasn't sure how Taylor would take the news and at the moment she was beyond not inclined to find out. It was bad enough she had to tell her parents, there was no way she was telling her twin.

When she turned the three adults were watching her with steady eyes. Though she noted Jason was carefully just out of reach of both Tommy and Kim. She swallowed a bit nervously and started. "Mom, dad. I have to tell you something and I want you to remember that this is not uncle Jason's fault." She pulled up her sleeve and flicked her wrist, causing her morpher to appear. "I'm a Ranger now."

"We need to teach you some tact." Jason said as he hastily backed away from Tommy who had turned on him with a positively murderous expression. "I'm sure there was a better way to tell them." His expression changed to one of panic as his back hit a wall.

"You think there was a better way to tell us?" Tommy growled. "What about the fact that she shouldn't be telling us? What part of 'you'll keep her out of the line of fire' was unclear Jason? I gave in and let her go out with Nolan when I'm not sure I like him, I gave in and let her work with you when I don't want her near anything Ranger-related, all I asked for in return was one freakin' thing. All I asked was that you keep her as far from the fighting as possible. And she comes home and tells me she's a Ranger? How is that keeping her from the fighting? Seems to me being a Ranger requires fighting, always did for me."

"I had nothing to do with it." Jason protested. "I locked the damn thing in a box which I locked into a safe in the locked room. If your daughter just found it in the main room in an unlocked box its not because of me."

Tommy glared at him a moment longer but he wasn't so angry that he couldn't hear the sincerity in Jason's voice. So he took a deep breath, tried to chain back most of his anger and turned to his daughter who was watching him with an unreadable expression and belligerent body posture. "What happened?"

"I don't know exactly. I was just wandering around looking for something to do. I was really restless because the team was out fighting and I was shut up inside. And I found this box I'd never seen before. So I opened it, I felt almost impelled to do it. Just like I felt impelled to grab the stone inside. It wasn't uncle Jason's fault dad. He didn't have anything to do with it."

"Except that if he hadn't been determined to have you working for him you wouldn't have been there in the first place."

"I don't think we can say that Dad. It felt fated really. I think even if I'd been here I would have found it. It was time for it to come into the picture. The time had come for the Green Ranger to enter the war and the stone wanted me."

"Damn it." Tommy muttered under his breath. Spinning he strode over to the punching bag in the corner. With short, angry jabs he began to work out his anger on the poor, defenseless punching bag.

Amanda watched him for a moment before turning to her mother who, aside from a few startled gasps, had been utterly silent. "Mom?" She said hesitantly.

Kim pulled her worried eyes from her husband's tense back to her daughter's tense face. "I'm not happy," she said reluctantly, knowing truth was best. "But I'm not surprised. Once you started working with Jason it was just a matter of time. And I'm not going to try to forbid you." She smiled a bit sadly. "That would be pointless. You always reminded me of you dad, and all of us originals really. You have the spirit of a Ranger. I may not be thrilled but I won't stop you."

Tommy made a strangled noise. They all looked at him in concern but it was not a noise of physical pain. "I can't do it," he forced out. "I want to. I want to at least say I'm okay with it, but I can't. I can't say I'm okay with my daughter risking her life everyday. It doesn't surprise me either, I doubt you'll find a former Ranger it would surprise, but I can't accept it." He looked at them with wild eyes. "Don't I get something for saving the world so many times? Why do I have to let my daughter do it as well?"

Kim crossed the room and wrapped her arms around him comfortingly. She had not words but actions were enough. Almost automatically his own arms rose to hold her and that motion seemed to break what little composure he had left. He buried his head in her hair and only the shaking of his shoulders betrayed the depth of his anguish. Jason gestured with his head and quietly he and Amanda left the basement, giving Tommy privacy to vent his sorrow over what he could not prevent.

"Well, that went well," Jason said once they'd closed the door again.

"Well?" Amanda's voice cracked with suppressed emotion. "Uncle Jason, I made my dad cry. My dad never cries, but I made him cry."

Taking her arm Jason drew her into Tommy's office and shut that door. "Sweetheart, you didn't make him cry. His own powerlessness, his inability to do anything is what's upsetting him. You're his daughter, he's supposed to protect you, but now you're protecting him. It's hard for him to take in, to process. It's the same problem I'm having, that Nolan is having, but its worse with your dad because that desire to protect is even stronger in him. Especially since he wasn't able to protect you for so long. Just give him time. He won't forbid you. Just try not to make it obvious in any way."

Amanda nodded and then went into his arms for a hard hug. "Thank you uncle Jason. I promise I won't let you down. You won't regret letting me on the team."

"I know I won't." He smiled ruefully. "You were born to be a Ranger."

:

That night Tommy had strange dreams. Disturbing dreams really. He was fighting with Rita and Zedd but for some reason Rita kept turning into Kim and Amanda, but most frequently Amanda. Every time that happened he'd stop fighting in horror, at which point Zedd would land him a good one with his staff. This happened over and over and it was starting to drive him a little nuts when suddenly it ceased and he found himself in a cavernous, dark room. The only light was an eerie green glow coming from what looked like computer screen at the far end. Confused and trying to figure out his location Tommy began to cross the large room. On his third step the lights suddenly snapped on to reveal a scene of carnage. Bodies lay strewn across the floor, seven in all, and they all bore faces he knew. Two of them he'd never met but had seen, a third he didn't like so much, but all the rest of them were close to him. His family literally and metaphorically. A body wearing Amanda's face lay in front of the other three as if protecting them while the other three, Jason, Zack and Kim, were jumbled as if they'd fallen as a group. Now he recognized his surroundings, he was in what Amanda affectionately called 'the Batcave,' the headquarters of the current Ranger team. He sank to his knees between the body of his daughter, lying alone, and the pile of those belonging to his friends. Bowing his head he battled with his rage and grief and tried to make it so neither was ruling him.

Before he succeeded a noise made him look up. In front of him was a tall, lithe man wearing a face he remembered very well, a face he hadn't seen in 16 years. He gaped, and didn't realize that the room of carnage had been replaced with his own lab, the command center he'd built for the Dino Thunder team.

"Yes Tommy," the man chuckled. "It is I."

"Zordon," he breathed. "But how? You died."

"Yes, and I've not come back form the dead. But it was only my mortal body that went. My soul remains, as all do, mine is just more powerful than most because of my long connection to the Morphin' Grid. That connection still exists, its how I knew you were troubled tonight. What bothers you Falcon, what causes these dreams of horror?"

Tommy found himself pouring out not only the last 12 hours, 3 months, or even since Taylor had begun dating. Rather he found himself pouring out the last 16 years. He found himself telling regrets he didn't even know he had. He found it surprisingly easy to talk to the spirit of his old mentor, as easy as it had ever been to talk to him in the past, in the times when Tommy would sit in front of his energy tube and pour out his woes. Finally he ran out of things to say, his soul lay bare before the man who'd formed him, who'd made him who he was by the trust he had placed in him.

Zordon smiled sympathetically when he was finished. "Do you feel better Falcon? It is not wise to have so much pent up frustration in ones self."

Tommy blinked, surprised to find that he did feel better. "I do. But," his expression darkened a bit. "I still don't know what to do about Amanda."

"You must let her fly Falcon. She is strong, she has the power of both the Falcon and the Crane within her. I know it is difficult, it may have been many years since I let my children go on their first missions as Rangers but I still remember how difficult it was. But it must be done. Young Amanda is the next generation and their time has come."

"And if she gets hurt?"

"Then she'll pick herself back up again, just as you did. At least you will know why she is injured, unlike your parents, or those of your teammates, or her teammates. You won't have the worries they do that their child will be killed because they've gotten mixed up in something bad."

"True." Tommy's expression turned thoughtful. "I didn't consider that."

"Well do, for it is true." He started to fade. "My time here is up Falcon, but remember she needs to fly, but your support is also needed to make it a successful flight. Try, hard though it may be, to support her as she spreads her wings for this first flight." And then he was gone.

Tommy woke with the sense of peace he'd gotten during his talk with Zordon still lingering in his body and mind. He stared, unseeing, at the ceiling and thought about what Zordon had said and thought as well about the situation with Amanda now that he was no longer feeling as angry or helpless.

JT's demands to be fed were the next thing he was aware of. Feeling Kim stirring beside him he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead and told her to stay in bed. He padded down the hall to the next door on bare, noiseless feet and came to the crib where his wailing son lay. As soon as he picked him up JT quieted, he knew his breakfast would be soon. As he looked at his son Tommy knew what he had to do about the Amanda situation, he just wished it wasn't so hard.

:

That night after dinner Tommy waited until Taylor and Kim had left the kitchen before quietly asking Amanda to meet him in his office when she was done cleaning off the table. Amanda looked at him warily before agreeing. Tommy retreated to his office to pace while he waited for her. Amanda, in the meantime, took her own sweet time filling the dishwasher. As she did so she tried to marshal every argument she could think of in case her dad was going to try and back out of letting her be a Ranger. Finally, however, she couldn't put it off any longer. So she slipped into his office and shut the door before leaning on it.

"What's up?"

"I just wanted to talk to you about last night." Tommy paused and looked at the floor before speaking again, eyes still stuck to the floor. "I'm not going to say I'm sorry for how I reacted, because I'm not. I think I'm entitled to freak when learning my daughter is intimately involved in the one thing we've been protecting her from since before she was born. But," he looked up at this point, "I've been doing some thinking. And the thing is, I've got to trust you and the training I've given you. I've got to let you go. It just hurts because I'm not supposed to have to let you go for another couple of years. You're supposed to be in college first, not still in high school. You just got your license for crying out loud, but I have to let you go off and save the world. I'm not happy about it, but I won't stop you and I will support you. I'd rather know what you were doing and help you then have not the faintest clue what you're up to."

"Really?" Amanda was finding his complete about-face hard to process, understandable under the circumstances and given that she'd be told not to expect it by one of the people who knew him the best.

"Really. Look imp, I'm really sorry. Not necessarily about freaking out last night, but in general. I handled the whole thing with Nolan wrong from the beginning and I didn't have to freak as much last night. But I can't totally help it. I'm the dad, you're the little girl who's growing up way to fast. I'm sorry I can't be thrilled that you're going to risk your life everyday, but I gave you that life, its hard to stand by and watch you risk it."

"But you're willing to help?"

"Because then I'll know what's happening. As long as I'm in the loop, and you're at least willing to consider whatever advice I might pass you, then yes, I'm willing to help." 'And God help all of us if she gets hurt' he thought as she hugged him fiercely. 'There is no wrath like a former Ranger enraged.'

END


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